OKR Board for Jira is Atlassian Staff Pick, but we are not yet resting on the laurels! Today we are proud to announce a new product update, bringing you a way to adjust the OKR grading for Jira issues manually, overwriting the automatic system, and a complete upgrade of our OKR map.
The Custom Grade for Jira Issues has been requested since we introduced Custom Grade on Key Results. However, we needed time to ensure it worked correctly and was easily understood. As for the OKR map, the main feedback was that it was a bit too complicated and outdated in terms of UI — so we decided to give it some love while testing the new Custom Grades. Let’s get to the details.
Jira Issues Custom Grades
Automatic OKR progress updates from Jira issues were the core idea of the OKR Board for Jira. They are precise, quick, and require only a short one-time setup, leaving you more time to do your work. Except, depending on the task, they can also misrepresent the situation.
The new Custom Grade option allows you to manually set the OKR grade — just like our current Key Result grading system. By clicking on grading methods other than “Auto grade” you can overwrite the task score with your own custom progress estimate. Just like with non-linked OKRs, this estimate is saved and will be prioritized over the automatic grading as long as one of the custom grading systems is enabled.
For example, you have a Jira Epic, “Release a mobile version of CRM for iOS.” The issue itself is binary since the CRM is either released or not. However, it also takes a lot of your time and consists of multiple stages — from the initial assessment to the final deployment.
If you are to use the Automatic Jira Grade, then your OKR will sit at 0% the entire time until you release the app — and which point it will jump to 100%. And while it follows the OKR rules as written, it goes against them in spirit. Instead, you should be able to at least estimate at which stage your project is and use that percentage to calculate the OKR. For example, it will calculate the contribution to the parent OKRs, as seen in the images above.
OKR Map Rework
The OKR map is a mindmap for your OKRs. It is one of the ways of displaying the OKR Structure. If you don’t know what that is, we have a great article explaining it.
However, originally our OKR map was more of a proof-of-concept. We made it specifically for one of our customers who suggested the idea and needed it implemented fast. They loved that intermediate version and were completely satisfied, but we knew we could do better. So we did.
This is the new look of the OKR map — much cleaner, more straightforward, and more streamlined than ever. You can still see and edit every aspect of your OKRs directly from this interface. However, now it also looks good and makes much more sense.
You can add new OKR items to the map, move them around, and manage your entire OKR structure without leaving this interface. You can also hide KRs, which might be useful if you do not use nested Objectives in Key Results.
The new OKR map works wonders on projects with complicated OKR structures and dramatically simplifies the management process. Check it out and tell us what you think!
We hope you enjoy the new updates, and as always, we will happily hear your feedback at [email protected]. We also have several updates in the oven, so keep an eye on our social media!
