I’m currently using Goals in Atlassian and noticed inconsistent behavior regarding Goal progress inheritance from Sub-goals. In some cases: * Parent Goal progress is automatically inherited/calculated from Sub-goals But in other cases: * Parent Goal progress does not inherit any progress from Sub-goals * Progress needs to be updated manually I’m trying to understand: * What conditions determine whether a Goal inherits progress from Sub-goals? * Is there any specific configuration or setting required? * How can we configure Goals so that Parent Goals always automatically inherit progress from their Sub-goals?

Hi @Hung Tran , Atlassian Goals has shifted toward an OKR-style model with Success Measures (and linked Metrics). This change affects progress calculation: * Progress now primarily comes from Success Measures/Metrics on a goal (averaged across them). Sub-goals often no longer automatically contribute to the parent’s progress bar once Success Measures are added. * Older or simpler goal setups (without Success Measures) may still roll up from sub-goals. This explains the behavior you’re seeing. You can read more details here: Goal Types and better support for OKRs are coming soon. Feel free to leave a comment on the post to let the team know your thoughts. Hope it helps 🙌 Liam

nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Goal Progress Inheritance from Sub-goals in Atlassian

Hung Tran_yrotyj

I’m currently using Goals in Atlassian and noticed inconsistent behavior regarding Goal progress inheritance from Sub-goals.

In some cases:

Parent Goal progress is automatically inherited/calculated from Sub-goals

But in other cases:

Parent Goal progress does not inherit any progress from Sub-goals
Progress needs to be updated manually

I’m trying to understand:

What conditions determine whether a Goal inherits progress from Sub-goals?
Is there any specific configuration or setting required?
How can we configure Goals so that Parent Goals always automatically inherit progress from their Sub-goals?

Accepted answers

Liam Do - DevSamurai

Hi @Hung Tran ,

Atlassian Goals has shifted toward an OKR-style model with Success Measures (and linked Metrics). This change affects progress calculation:

Progress now primarily comes from Success Measures/Metrics on a goal (averaged across them). Sub-goals often no longer automatically contribute to the parent’s progress bar once Success Measures are added.
Older or simpler goal setups (without Success Measures) may still roll up from sub-goals. This explains the behavior you’re seeing.

You can read more details here: Goal Types and better support for OKRs are coming soon. Feel free to leave a comment on the post to let the team know your thoughts.

Hope it helps 🙌
Liam

All comments

Liam Do - DevSamurai

Hi @Hung Tran ,

Atlassian Goals has shifted toward an OKR-style model with Success Measures (and linked Metrics). This change affects progress calculation:

Progress now primarily comes from Success Measures/Metrics on a goal (averaged across them). Sub-goals often no longer automatically contribute to the parent’s progress bar once Success Measures are added.
Older or simpler goal setups (without Success Measures) may still roll up from sub-goals. This explains the behavior you’re seeing.

You can read more details here: Goal Types and better support for OKRs are coming soon. Feel free to leave a comment on the post to let the team know your thoughts.

Hope it helps 🙌
Liam

Hung Tran_yrotyj

Hi Liam, Thanks for the clarification — that helps explain the inconsistent behavior we’ve been seeing.

Just to confirm my understanding:

If a parent Goal is created without Success Measures, then its progress can still roll up automatically from Sub-goals?
And in that setup, can the Sub-goals themselves still have Success Measures/Metrics?

I’m asking because I tried creating a Goal with Sub-goals recently, but the parent progress still didn’t roll up as expected, so I’m trying to better understand the exact conditions/configuration required for roll-up to work.

Or please guide me how to create a Goal wihout Success Measures?

Screenshot 2026-05-11 at 13.34.25.png

Liam Do - DevSamurai

Hi @Hung Tran,

From the post I mentioned, here are what I can point out for your questions:

If a parent Goal has NO Success Measures:
- For existing Goals before the update, progress can still roll up automatically from Sub-goals
- For Goals created after the update, sub-goals will no longer contribute to progress.
Sub-goals can have their own Success Measures/Metrics? Yes, that’s allowed and works fine. But the Sub-goal's progress will no longer contribute to the parent Goal's progress, even if they had metrics.

You can refer to this:

Progress is now averaged from linked success measures. Sub-goals will no longer contribute to the progress. All goals will have a progress roll up by default.

So if you want your parent Goal's progress to be rolled up automatically, the only option is to add Success measures/Metrics to it.

Best,
Liam

Welcome!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Quick Links

Find more posts tagged with

jira

cloud

jira-cloud

goals