Jira OKR Template (Objectives & Key Results)

A Jira OKR template models objectives and key results as a reusable issue hierarchy: the objective is an epic, each key result is a story under it, and the initiatives that drive a key result are sub-tasks. To use it, build the objective tree once, save it as a template, and launch it each quarter with the objective text, owners and targets prompted as variables. Progress then rolls up the tree, so a dashboard gives you a live read on each objective. Copy the structure below by hand, or import it in seconds.

How to model OKRs in Jira

Jira has no native OKR object, but its issue hierarchy maps onto the OKR model cleanly, which is why you do not need a separate goals tool to run OKRs where the work already lives. The mapping is the whole idea: keep objectives, key results and the work beneath them in one tree so progress on the work is progress on the objective, not a number someone updates by hand in a spreadsheet.

OKR concept	Jira issue type	What it holds
Objective	Epic	The qualitative goal for the quarter, its owner, and the period
Key result	Story	A measurable outcome with a baseline, a target, and a current value
Initiative / project	Sub-task (or linked story)	The actual work expected to move a key result

Because the key results sit under the objective and the initiatives sit under the key results, the structure carries the logic of OKRs on its own. You read an objective by reading its children, and you do not have to maintain a parallel document.

This page is about the OKR structure specifically. For the epic mechanics themselves (how to write and template a good epic), see the epic template; for the key-result stories, the story template covers the story shape. This page stays on the OKR layer and defers the type-specific detail to those pages.

The OKR hierarchy as a Jira tree

Epic (Objective): <<qualitative goal for the quarter>>
  - Story (Key result 1): <<metric>> from <<baseline>> to <<target>>
      - Sub-task: <<initiative that moves KR1>>
      - Sub-task: <<initiative that moves KR1>>
  - Story (Key result 2): <<metric>> from <<baseline>> to <<target>>
      - Sub-task: <<initiative that moves KR2>>
  - Story (Key result 3): <<metric>> from <<baseline>> to <<target>>
      - Sub-task: <<initiative that moves KR3>>

A filled example

Epic (Objective): Make onboarding a reason customers stay
  - Key result 1: Activation rate from 41% to 60%
      - Set up the guided first-run checklist
      - Add in-product tips to the three drop-off steps
  - Key result 2: Time-to-first-value from 3 days to 1 day
      - Pre-fill sample data on signup
      - Cut the setup wizard from 7 steps to 4
  - Key result 3: 30-day retention from 68% to 75%
      - Add a day-7 re-engagement email
      - Ship the weekly usage digest

Track progress without a separate tool

The reason to keep OKRs in Jira is the rollup. Because each key result is a story with its own status, and each initiative is a sub-task beneath it, the objective’s progress is simply the state of its tree. A dashboard gadget scoped to the objective epic gives you a live pass on where each key result stands, with no export and no manual status meeting prep. As the initiatives close, the key results advance, and the objective reflects it.

Make it reusable each quarter

OKRs repeat on a cadence, which is exactly what a template is for. With Process Templates for Jira, you save the objective tree once and launch a fresh set each quarter, with the objective text, the owners, the baselines and the targets prompted as variables, and a value like the quarter or the team entered once flowing down the whole tree. The parent-child links come back intact, so key results and initiatives are wired to their objective from the start rather than relinked by hand. The dashboard gadget then creates and surfaces the structure in a click. It is free for up to 10 users, needs no admin rights, and requires no scripting.

Run the same objective tree every quarter instead of rebuilding it:

Install Process Templates for Jira from the Atlassian Marketplace. It is free for up to 10 users and needs no admin rights.
Build the objective tree once, with the objective as an epic, each key result as a child story, and the initiatives as sub-tasks, then save it as a template.
Turn objectives, owners and targets into variables, so each quarter you enter the new goal, baselines and targets instead of retyping the structure.
Relaunch the tree each quarter and scope a dashboard gadget to the objective, so progress rolls up from the initiatives to the key results to the objective.

For the full walkthrough, follow the guide to how to create a template. To browse more ready-made structures, start from the template library.

Frequently asked questions

Can Jira do OKRs? Yes. Jira has no built-in OKR object, but its issue hierarchy models OKRs well: the objective is an epic, each key result is a story, and the initiatives are sub-tasks. Keeping them in one tree means progress on the work rolls up into progress on the objective, and a dashboard gadget gives you a live view.

What is the difference between an OKR and an epic? An epic is a Jira issue type that groups related work. An OKR is a goal-setting framework. You use an epic to represent an objective, but the OKR adds the measurable key results (modelled as stories) and the target values that an epic alone does not carry. For the epic mechanics, see the epic template.

How do I track OKRs in Jira? Model each objective as an epic with its key results as child stories and initiatives as sub-tasks, then scope a dashboard gadget to the objective so progress rolls up automatically. Templating the objective tree means you relaunch the same structure each quarter with new targets entered as variables.

An OKR tree is built from the same Jira issue types as any planning structure: the epic template for the objective, the story template for each key result, and the task template for the initiatives beneath them. For recurring delivery work that uses the same epic-to-sub-task shape, see the project management template. Or browse the full template library for planning and delivery structures across software, ITSM and HR work.

Jira OKR template