Jira OKRs Template That Will Help You Plan Goals and Track Their Execution

Using the Objectives and Key Results strategy has two important benefits. First, it ties goals to measurable outcomes, which makes them specific and defines a clear path for fulfilling them. This removes vagueness from your plans and makes them tangible. The second benefit is that OKRs provide a meaningful perspective for individual team members. Working on their daily tasks, everyone understands the broader mission behind their ToDo lists. This enhances motivation, initiative, and transparency.

In this blog post, we provide a free Jira OKRs template, a handy tool for planning your goals and tracking their execution. We will also explain how to use this template and share best practices for managing OKRs in Jira.

What are OKRs, in a Nutshell?

This allows you to align the entire organization around high-level goals, while providing a clear understanding of how to meet them. 

The key components of the OKR framework are:

• Objective – a high-level goal. It has to be clear, meaningful, qualitative, and time-bound. The objective must provide a direction but leave room for flexibility.
• Key Result – a measurable change or output that aligns with the specific objective and moves the company towards meeting that objective. It must be quantitative and include verifiable metrics that allow you to track progress and estimate the result.
• Ownership – assigned responsibilities and contributors for each key result and objective. While meeting the goals is a team effort, there should be a responsible owner who will plan and manage the activities devised as part of the current OKR strategy.

John Doerr, a prominent American investor, suggested this simple formula for explaining what OKRs are: “I will [Objective], as measured by [Key Result 1], [Key Result 2], and [Key Result 3].”

Here’s an example of what it can look like in practice:

Objective:

Strengthen the company’s market position by the end of 2026

Key Results:

• Increase monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from $600K to $950K
• Grow market share from 7% to 15%
• Add 100,000 new users to the customer base
• Reduce customer churn rate from 7% to below 4%

Owners: Head of Sales, Chief Marketing Officer, Lead Product Manager

When the key results are clearly defined, the owners and teams involved can decide on specific steps to achieve these results. Keeping the end goals in mind helps maintain focus at all levels, from the project management level to individual workload and time management.

What is a Jira OKRS Template?

This is a structured checklist helping teams with two major tasks:

• Planning OKRs according to best practices
• Tracking progress on individual KRs.

Moreover, utilizing a Jira OKRs template allows you to onboard people more easily and saves time during quarterly and yearly planning sessions. When it’s time to set goals again, you won’t have to start from scratch, as you will already have a reusable template. An OKR checklist is also very useful for tracking progress and organizing the execution steps.

Natively, Jira doesn’t offer an OKRs template or any other dedicated tools for managing OKRs. However, you can create and use such a template with Smart Checklist for Jira by Titan Apps. Later in this blog post, I will also share some tips on how to manage OKRs in Jira despite the lack of native features. 

A Free Jira OKRS Template by Smart Checklist

We’ve prepared a free template to guide you through the OKRs planning process and help you track OKRs in Jira.

Preview Markdown view

## **Define Objectives (by YYYY-MM-DD)**

– Identify 3–5 high-level objectives for the quarter
– Ensure each objective is clear, inspiring, and outcome-focused
– Align objectives with company or team strategy
– Confirm buy-in from key stakeholders
– Record final objectives in your team’s documentation

## **Set Key Results for Each Objective (by YYYY-MM-DD)**

– Define 2–4 measurable key results for each objective
– Focus on outcomes, not outputs (avoid tasks or deliverables)
– Assign clear metrics and targets (e.g., 15% growth in X)
– Review measurability and ambition level
– Finalize and document key results for each objective

## **Assign Ownership (by YYYY-MM-DD)**

– Assign an owner for each objective
– Assign contributors or responsible parties for each key result
– Tag all owners in the Jira work item
– Confirm that everyone understands their role

## **Review and Align With Stakeholders (by YYYY-MM-DD)**

– Schedule an OKRs review session
– Walk through all objectives and key results with the team
– Collect feedback and adjust if needed
– Mark final approval and share across relevant channels

## **Set Check-In Schedule and Track Progress**

– Choose the check-in frequency (weekly/bi-weekly)
– Add check-in dates to calendar or project tracker
– Define a method for tracking progress (manual, automated, etc.)
– Clarify how progress will be reported (e.g., checklist status, custom fields)
– Share check-in expectations with the team

## **Track Progress on Key Result: [Insert KR Title Here]**

– Define success criteria and baseline metrics
– Break down the key result into actionable steps
– Assign responsibilities and deadlines for each step
– Add links to relevant documents, dashboards, or data sources
– Start implementation
– Log weekly check-in notes or blockers
– Adjust plan or targets if needed
– Mark each sub-step as completed
– Review progress against targets by YYYY-MM-DD
– Document outcome and score the key result
– Add insights and improvement notes for the next cycle

## **Close and Evaluate at End of Period (by YYYY-MM-DD)**

– Review each objective and its key results
– Score each key result based on completion and impact
– Document lessons learned and improvement ideas
– Archive the checklist or move it to a “Completed OKRs” section
– Use insights to inform planning for the next cycle

Copy the template Copied

This structured checklist includes sections dedicated to defining objectives, setting goals, organizing the review process, and more. Once you have installed Smart Checklist, you can copy this template in markdown format and insert it into a Jira work item (Jira issue).

Jira OKRS Template Split By Execution Stage

For your convenience, we’ve split the full template provided in the previous section into several parts, each representing a separate stage. 

Planning Stage

Assigning Ownership and Reviewing

Tracking Progress on A Key Result

Monitoring and Evaluation

How to Use This Jira OKRS Template

1. Install Smart Checklist for Jira from the Atlassian Marketplace. 
2. Copy the template from the previous section and paste it into the Smart Checklist section of a Jira work item.
3. If needed, customize the template using the Markdown editor. Add or remove steps, change formatting, and structure the checklist with headers to suit your needs. You can, for example, tag responsible people, add deadlines, make certain steps mandatory, set custom statuses, add links, include details in the expandable field in each checklist item, and more.
4. Save the checklist as a template. Open the Smart Checklist menu (the three dots in the upper right corner) and save your checklist as a template, as shown in the image below. This will allow you to share the template with other stakeholders and reuse it across cycles. Now, with the help of your Jira OKRs template, you can plan your goals and the key results you want to achieve. Once this is done, think about the implementation strategies. Discuss with your team the specific steps that should be taken to achieve the required key results. When you have a detailed implementation plan, create Jira work items (Jira issues) for each action point. 
5. Create goal-specific checklists for each task. When your implementation plan is converted into a set of Jira tasks, create an individual checklist for the most important ones. List the main steps that need to be completed. This will help your team see the full scope and keep in mind the key requirements. Moreover, you will gain full visibility into the progress and will be able to see which stage the team is currently working on. As Smart Checklist allows you to set a custom status for each checklist item, this makes it a good choice for OKR tracking. Using goal-specific checklists will help everyone maintain focus and follow the defined plan.

When you are working on checklists for individual KRs or tasks, you can use this opportunity to streamline recurring processes in your organization. For example, hiring new employees or launching regular email campaigns can be easily templatized. 

You will only need to create a checklist for a recurring task once, and then you can reuse it multiple times. In the example below, a specific task, “Recruit a new Head of Sales,” was turned into such a reusable generalized template. Now, the same process can be applied to hiring for other roles. This approach saves time on planning and helps your team maintain a high quality standard. In addition, it’s suitable for any team and can be easily adopted for a variety of use cases.

Preview Markdown view

### Update the Hiring Team ?
– Identify people who have access to the salary info (contact {{recruiter}})
– Create a private channel in Slack for discussions, use the following naming: “hire-job-position” (e.g., hire-product-lead)
– Invite the hiring team members to the Slack channel

### Position discovery ????
– Do deep research, learn what you can by reading and asking people. You need to confidently operate the main terms relevant to the position before you start the session (see [presentation] or the [explanatory video])
– For new, hard-to-fill positions, or leadership positions, conduct research on how other companies are hiring for such roles. Check how other companies do it through searching for articles/approaches, videos, or [Mock interviews](https://www.thebalancemoney.com/how-to-use-mock-interviews-to-practice-interviewing-2061626)
– Review job boards that can be used for posting a vacancy or sourcing candidates
> -if it makes sense to use [Djinni](https://djinni.co/developers/) – approve it with @MD
> -if there are paid platforms that you can use for posting, approve the posting with @HiringManager in [Slack channel]. Mention the price and explain why posting on that platform will be useful for hiring
– Prepare a list of questions for the Position discovery session in the corresponding Interview distribution matrix, “Interview checklist” tab
– Schedule the Position discovery session (1-3h, depending on the role). If the team cannot come up with the list of projects, schedule +1h.

### Job Description ?
– Prepare a job description using [this guide](insert your link)
– Define job title, responsibilities, and requirements
– Outline key qualifications, skills, and experience needed
– Include salary range and benefits (if applicable)
– Approve the JD draft with the hiring team. Ask them to review the structure and content, NOT the grammar
– Review the JD draft with the @ContentWriter

### Vacancy posting ?
– Post on the company website
– Post on job boards (LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.)
– Post on social media channels
– Post internal referrals and employee networks
– Add vacancy to the applicant tracking system (ATS)

### Tracking & Follow-up ?
– Monitor application responses
– Ensure compliance with equal opportunity policies
– Review applications against job requirements
– Filter out unqualified candidates
– Prioritize top candidates for further evaluation

### Candidate Screening & Shortlisting ?
– Consult hiring managers for input on top candidates
– Prepare a structured shortlist (e.g., top 5–10 candidates)
– Notify shortlisted candidates and schedule interviews
– Send rejection emails to unqualified candidates

Copy the template Copied

Benefits of Utilizing a Jira OKRS Template by Smart Checklist

• Standardization and consistency. When all teams use a single Jira OKRs template, it ensures that everyone follows the same format and remains aligned.
• Progress visibility. Using the template or tailored checklists for individual KRs allows the product owner and other stakeholders to see progress on each task easily. Additionally, Smart Checklist progress can be displayed on your Jira board, allowing you to assess the process at a glance. This feature is applicable to both Kanban boards and Sprint boards. 
• Smoother onboarding. New team members can easily understand the OKRs planning and tracking processes and follow best practices. There’s no need for long onboarding sessions or extensive documentation.
• Saving time and improving efficiency. Once you save your Jira OKRs template, it’s ready for reuse every cycle. When the planning sessions are repeated, whether quarterly or yearly, you will already have a clear plan to follow. This saves time and effort, helping you optimize resources.

How to Manage OKRs in Jira: Options You Have

As I mentioned earlier, Jira doesn’t have an inbuilt functionality for managing OKRs. The reason for this is that Jira is designed for managing day-to-day tasks, so it doesn’t support higher-level processes. However, you have several options for tackling this limitation:

Set up epics as goals and work items as key results

A common approach is to use Jira epics as objectives that include multiple work items representing the key results. For specific activities planned under each KR, you can use subtasks and checklists. 

If you choose not to include objectives and their KRs in one epic, you can use linked issues to show the connections between them. Some teams also create dedicated Confluence pages where they collect information on the achieved results for quarterly reviews.

Implement Advanced Roadmaps (Jira Plans)

One more way to manage OKRs in Jira is by creating a custom hierarchy with Advanced Roadmaps (Jira Plans). This functionality is available to Jira Premium and Enterprise users. You can add Objectives and Key Results as two new work types (issue types) and place them above Epics in your custom hierarchy. For more details, please see my blog post on custom Jira Roadmaps Hierarchy Configuration.

Use Jira Align or Goals by Atlassian 

Jira Align is an additional product offered by Atlassian. Its main purpose is to connect business planning with execution. In particular, it allows you to manage OKRs and track your team’s progress. From the OKR Hub in Jira Align, you can view a summary of all your objectives and navigate to each KR to see how much has been completed.

Install dedicated OKR software for Jira

Another option is to install a third-party app that adds OKR features to Jira Cloud or Jira Data Center. Such tools often offer enhancements such as an OKR dashboard and OKR reports. This allows you to monitor and manage your goals and their execution from a single place. You can find many applications to choose from on the Atlassian marketplace.

An alternative option is to use Goals by Atlassian – a part of their Platform Experiences (this app is separate from Jira Software). This solution offers impressive functionality for OKR management and integrates seamlessly with Jira.

Add checklists to your Jira tasks

• Automate repetitive tasks
• Check progress at a glance
• Help your teams complete tasks
• Ensure that the delivered work meets compliance standards

Try for free

Put Your Jira OKRs Template to Practice

With the OKRs template provided by Smart Checklist, you can easily organize goal-setting activities and progress monitoring in Jira. This will help you save time, increase clarity and transparency, and align daily work with strategic objectives. More importantly, it will help you move closer to achieving tangible, measurable results.

Article by Olga Cheban

Content Writer at TitanApps. I love it when my writing helps people find smarter ways to manage their time. Whether for individual professionals or large companies, even small changes in managing daily tasks can have a huge impact. My goal is to share practical advice that promotes efficiency and facilitates growth.