OKR --> Initiatives -- Epics --- Stories

[Neil Wills]

We already use initiatives within a project or across projects to combine different team epics around an initiative.

With the new year we have company OKR, product OKR, and feed into the initiatives, epics, and stories.

I see in another product they are modelling OKRs in a hierarchical from company, product, team level, I imagine we could also use hierarchy with the initiatives in jira,

This set of epics relates back to an initiative, and all the way back to the product goal(s), Company Goals.  

With the known constraints that an init parent link 

Initiatives are not designed inherently to have parents

[Viktor]

Hello @Neil Wills

The app OKR Board for Jira allows you to build follow structure within the Jira ecosystem and track the progress of your OKRs based on KR or Jira issue resolution status:

You also can customize OKR levels according to your company org structure (like Company, Product, etc.):

Request a demo to learn how to implement the OKR framework with ease inside the Jira ecosystem.

Best,
Viktor

[Rebecca Mattila]

I assume we could add the OKR level after the Jira level initiatives are set up, correct?

[Julia Holovko - Oboard - OKR Board for Jira _ Confluence]

Hi @Rebecca Mattila

my name is Julia, I represent OKR Board for Jira and reply on Victor's behalf.

To your question: yes, you can create a new OKR level at any time when you need additional dimensions to set and track Objectives on different organization levels. And after you can start linking Jira initiatives to them.

Jira hierarchy - the ability to add hierarchy levels above epic. You can use these extra levels to track your organization’s larger initiatives in your plans and unify cross-project work.

OKR levels - is the ability to set and track Objectives on different organizational levels.

Did I answer your question?

[Ste Wright]

Hi @Neil Wills 

This depends on whether your OKRs are:

• A parent of Initiatives in all scenarios or...
• Could be applied to all levels - i.e Company OKRs vs Team OKRs (which might be applied at Epic/Story level)

---

Parent

As Mark has mentioned, if they're a parent you could set them via the Issue Hierarchy - to modify this, you'll need to be a Jira Admin and then...

• Create a new Issue Type
  • Go to Settings > Issues
  • Select Issue Types from the left-hand menu
  • Select Add issue type, and follow the prompts to create the OKR type
• Add the Issue Type to at least one Issue Type Scheme associated to at least one Project:
  • Select Issue Type Schemes from the left-hand menu
  • Add the OKR Issue Type to at least one Scheme, or create a new Scheme
• Finally, modify the Hierarchy:
  • Select Issue Type Hierarchy from the left-hand menu
  • Add an additional custom level above Initiative

But, adding to what Mark has suggested, you would need to consider...

• That OKRs will be above an Initiative for all teams/users - this is a site-wide setting
• What this Issue Type will look like - what fields will it include? What the workflow will be? Etc

---

Alternatives

There are alternatives - if you consider OKRs and Work Delivery could be separate.

Options include...

• Atlas: This is a free Atlassian product, which helps connect teams. Atlas has a feature which allows you to create Goals (including Parent/Sub-Goals) and track their progress against Jira - which could be used for OKRs. See how to use it for OKRs on this help page 
• Jira Align: If you have Jira Align, or your company is considering it, it has an OKRs module as part of it. You can see an example of this working in this YouTube video on Atlassian's channel.
• Apps: There are also multiple third-party Apps which can help with this on the Marketplace, including...
  • OKR Board for Jira
  • OKR for Jira
  • UpRaise (with OKRs)
  • or, check out other options on the Marketplace
• Additional Hierarchy: This is a native option, but I envisage would be quite a bit of work to keep in sync:
  • Create an additional Issue Hierarchy alongside the current one - with an "OKR Issue Type" per level
  • Link OKRs to relevant Initiatives, Epics, and Stories using a custom Linked Issues type (eg. delivers / is delivered by)
  • Use Automation to help populate calculated fields, and decide if an OKR is on track or not
  • ...etc

---

So there are options! Let us know if you need any further advice with any of the above :)

Ste

[Margo Sakova - OKR Board for Jira by Oboard]

Hi @Neil Wills 

How's your OKR implementation in Jira moving forward?

I recently shared a post on Jira configuration for OKRs. There are 4 different methods described, including the additional hierarchy, mentioned in this discussion.

That might be helpful for you, in case you're not happy with the current setup

[Mark Segall]

Hi @Neil Wills - You can add more layers to your hierarchy.  You just need to configure them here:

https://YOURINSTANCE.atlassian.net/jira/settings/issues/issue-hierarchy

Things you'll need to consider for adding more to your hierarchy:

• The "reporters" and "assignees" of these new issue types.  This is important as it'll determine whether you need to create new project(s) to manage them
• The workflow these new issue types should follow
• Updating existing roadmaps to include these issue types in their source

[Neil Wills]

I leverage the Issue Type Hierarchy and added Workstream --> Initiative --> Epic --> Story

the 3rd party solution would have worked but paying for onboarding of another application would have been problematic.

I figured there would be an out of the box solution given how flexible jira is

[Weronika Spaleniak Appfire]

Hi @Neil Wills , I wrote an article for Atlassian blog on this topic some time ago. Here it is, maybe it will help you in some way.

We're only mentioning our OKR for Jira solution as an alternative at the end. The whole article is focused on how to set things up using Atlassian products only.

Cheers,

Weronika Spaleniak

[Neil Wills]

How do I create this structure?