[DC] Create an OKR

This page outlines the process of setting up and managing objectives and key results (OKRs) within Jira using the OKR for Jira Data Center tool. It provides step-by-step instructions on creating objectives, defining key results, and navigating the interface.

• Hold a collaborative OKR planning meeting before each quarter to align goals across all levels.

• Ensure objectives are ambitious, inspiring, and clearly defined using specific language.

• Break down objectives into smaller, more manageable key results for effective progress tracking.

1. Click the New Objective button. The Set your objective screen displays.

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   • Objective – Give your objective a descriptive name. Properly defining your goal impacts how you work on it later. Here are some brief rules:
     Do: Write an ambitious, inspiring statement using clear and meaningful language.
     Don't: Write vague or overly generic goals.
     Example: Become a European leader of fashion e-commerce is better than Be better in what we do so that we will become leaders of European online fashion stores this quarter.
     For more examples, check out our guide to writing good OKRs.

   • Description – Briefly describe the objective for company-wide understanding.

2. In the Fill in the details section, add all additional information that would be valuable to you and the others. It will make filtering and daily work on the OKRs easier.

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   • Period (Start date, Due date) – Set one of the default periods or create your own. Start date and due dates are prefilled based on the period’s dates.

   • Owner – Select the owner. Start typing to search for the user you’re looking for.

   • Labels – Add labels to make finding the objective easier.

   • Choose higher-level objective – If you’re creating a sub-objective, select the objective it will belong to here.

3. Click Create objective to create the objective.

Key results are numerical measures to measure objective achievement. Best practices include ensuring they are quantifiable, not mere task lists, and limiting each objective to a maximum of five key results. There are multiple methods for creating key results, and all of them can be used to create sub-objectives as well.

1. From the OKR Overview, hover over a top-level objective and click the 3-dot menu, then select Add key result. The Create key result screen displays.
   The creation dialog fetches and pre-sets as much relevant data as possible from the context.

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   • Name – Give your key result a descriptive name.

   • Description – Briefly describe the key result for company-wide understanding.

   • Link issues – Depending on your use case, link any Jira issues to the key result. For more information on that, refer to Connect Jira issues to key results.

   • Progress – Decide how you’ll track the progress of the KR. There are two options:
     Update manually – Adding progress updates (changing the current value) and status updates (choosing the current status) is your job.
     Linked issues – You need to connect Jira issues, and then we update the progress for you based on their statuses. With every issue moved to Done, your progress increases; with every new issue added, it decreases a bit. The status of auto KRs still needs to be updated manually, as it’s a very subjective matter.

   • Next, select how the key result will be measured. You can change this any time after the OKR is created.
     Measure as – You can choose from Numeric, Percentage, USD ($), EUR (€), GBP (£), BRL (R$), CHF (CHf), IDR (Rp), or INR (₹). Let us know via the in-app chat if you’d like us to add your currency.
     Current – The value with which you start at the beginning of the period. If you start a new project, it will most likely be a 0. For instance, if you plan to reduce the number of bugs in your system from X to Y, then X will be the start value.
     Target – The value you plan to achieve in the OKR period. If you have a binary goal (to do or to learn something), then the desired value would be either 1 or 100.

   • Period (Expected start, end) – Set one of the default periods or create your own. Expected start and end dates are prefilled based on the period’s dates.

   • Type – Select the key result’s type. The readily available ones are Company, Team, and Personal, but you can create new ones according to your needs.

   • Owner – Select the owner. Start typing to search for the user you’re looking for.

   • Collaborators – If applicable, add collaborators such as people helping the Owner with the OKR.

   • Labels – Add labels to make finding the key result easier.

   • Restrictions – To configure restrictions, click the lock icon in the right-hand corner of the screen.

2. Click Create to create the key result.