What to do first
Set one objective for the quarter, give it two or three key results, and put the tasks that will move them underneath. An objective with no key results has nothing to move it, and its progress will read zero for the whole quarter.
An objective is created whole. Its key results and its tasks save with it in one go, or none of it saves.
Objectives
An objective is what you are trying to achieve. It has an owner, a scope, a cycle and a progress ring.
Scope says whose objective it is: company, department, team, branch or individual. Branch appears only in workspaces that have branches.
Progress is computed from the key results under it rather than typed. Ticking a task moves its key result, and that moves the objective's ring.
Key results
The measurable part. A key result has a starting point, a target and a current value, and updating it is what moves the objective.
Key results are where a check in happens. Log where the number is now, say why, and the history of that number becomes the thing a review can read.
Tasks
Work under a key result, assigned to a person with a due date. They appear in that person's My Work and in the Meetings and tasks panel, and ticking one anywhere ticks it everywhere.
KPIs
The other half of the module, for things that are measured continuously rather than achieved once. Satisfaction, on time delivery, response time, revenue.
A KPI is judged in one of two ways:
- Rate. Its most recent reading. Response time this week is this week's response time.
- Cumulative. The total of everything recorded. A year's revenue is not September's revenue, and reading the latest entry would answer a question nobody asked.
KPIs roll up to the organisation and break down by department, and you can filter to all, mine, my team's or my department's.
Cycles
Quarters, and which objectives belong to which. A cycle is what makes "this quarter" mean something specific, and it is what closes an objective off rather than leaving it running forever.
Templates
Objectives your workspace writes often, kept so nobody types them again. Useful for the ones every department sets each quarter.
Alignment
The map showing which objectives draw from which.
Every edge on it is a link somebody drew and the other side accepted. Proposed links are drawn dashed, so the person being waited on can see that they are being waited on. Nothing is inferred from scope: an individual objective does not appear under a department objective merely because both exist.
How it connects
- Tasks appear in My Work and in Meetings and tasks.
- Assignment, blocking and reminders raise notices in your Inbox.
- Objective progress feeds Manager Cockpit, Reviews and People Analytics.
- A closed out project releases contributions into the KPIs it promised to move.
- Workspace level figures appear in Insights.
Common questions
Why is my objective at zero? Because its key results have not moved. Progress is computed, not set, so the way to move it is to update a key result or tick a task.
Who can see my objective? Scope decides. A company objective is visible to the company, an individual one to you, your manager and the people entitled to read performance data.
Can I change a target mid quarter? Yes, and the change is part of the record. A target quietly rewritten at the end of a quarter is the one thing that makes a goal system worthless.
A goal is blocked. What happens? Marking it blocked tells the owner and their manager, in the inbox, because it is a problem rather than an update.