Tracking

This article distils a joint webinar we ran with Hayley Rodd (Easy Agile) and Andreas Wengenmayer (catworkx): “Turn strategy into goals that get delivered.”

It also draws on our companion Easy Agile Podcast conversation with Andreas.

If you prefer to watch or listen first, here are the links:

• Easy Agile Podcast Ep.33 How to Align Teams Through Strategic Goal Setting
• Webinar recording - How to Make Plans That Ship: Prioritise, Fix Dependencies, and Deliver

To follow along hands‑on, we also recommend you grab a free copy of the Goal‑Setting and Tracking Template.

TL;DR Plans slip because four basics are left unresolved: the goal is unclear, the list is indulgent, value is implicit, and blockers surface late. Get those four right and you change the room. Fix the basics in one cycle: agree one clear outcome, choose three to five testable objectives, give each a quick Business Value, link real work to those objectives, and hold a short weekly review from one shared board.

Why plan slip in execution

The trouble starts before anyone opens Jira. Leaders announce goals that sound right in the all‑hands, and two weeks later, teams are busy shipping useful work that doesn’t add up to the thing that was promised. We see the same knots showing up in the many rooms we’ve sat in with customers: fuzzy outcomes, too many objectives, no fair way to compare value, hidden dependencies, and a steady drip of mid‑cycle requests that move the posts.

“Teams get bogged down discussing minor details… they’re frustrated about something deeper, but they’re not addressing the root cause.” - Andreas Wengenmayer

What’s underneath the noise

• Strategy that never touches the week’s work. Folks can recite “increase customer satisfaction,” but a developer can’t point to one story and say how it moves a real metric.
• Too much to be truly accountable. Twelve “objectives,” part tasks, part hopes. No one wants to cut; capacity is assumed rather than agreed.
• No shared way to compare value. Reliability vs growth turns political without a quick scale. “Story points are guidance for one team… you shouldn’t compare them across teams,” Andreas said on the podcast.
• Dependencies discovered late. The sequence is wrong, so even great local execution produces rework.
• Mid‑cycle interference. Goals wobble because new requests arrive without the cost being named.

Under all of it sits culture. Can people say the uncomfortable thing early? How does your organisation respond when goals aren’t met? Do people feel safe to ask the probing questions, or does the blame game begin?

What’s good looks like

On the flip side, you can spot a few signs to know it’s working:

• People repeat the outcome the same way.
• The list is shorter than anyone expected.
• Trade‑offs are named without drama.
• The dependencies are on the board before anyone presses start.
• The weekly review feels like a pit‑stop, not a status parade.

The rest of this piece breaks down how teams create that feeling on purpose.

1. Name the outcome so a stranger can test it

the tell is easy to spot: different teams use different nouns for "success" such as conversion, reliability, or a marquee feature, yet nobody can state the one result they’ll stand behind together. That points to an outcome problem rather than a tooling gap.

You need a single, testable sentence that names the customer, the result, and the proof so every stream can trace its work back to the same destination.

“The challenge is to take something complex and explain it in simple terms.”

Try the hallway test Andreas recommends. Ask three people from different teams to repeat the outcome back without notes. If you hear three versions, edit until the words land the same way for everyone. Avoid slogans. Keep two simple proofs that do not require a research project.

If you like a prompt while drafting, the one‑line outcome box in the Goal-Setting and Tracking template is a useful training wheel. Use it to get moving, then park it.

2. Make the honest cut (only three to five objectives)

When objective lists creep into double digits, it’s a sign the group hasn’t decided what matters now.

Rather than run another prioritisation workshop, have an honest conversation about capacity and pride. Say out loud what the teams can realistically deliver once support, incidents and leave are accounted for. Then choose the smallest set of objectives you’d still be proud to ship if nothing else landed.

“Be frank about capacity. Say no when you must.”

Three to five objectives tend to survive this scrutiny. Label which are truly committed and which are stretch. Everything else belongs on a visible “not now” list with a one‑line reason. The mood changes quickly when people can see the shape of the work and the trade‑offs are explicit.

There is a simple test for whether you have really chosen the right objectives. Ask yourself and your team - if you delivered only the committed set, would you still be proud of the cycle? If the answer is no, you are still collecting wishes.

3. Use a tiny Business Value scale to end circular debates

Value conversations stall because reliability, growth and platform health don’t share a common denominator.

And a light Business Value pass gives them one.

Bring the people who can speak for customers, revenue and delivery into the same room and assign each objective a simple 1–10 value with a single reason. Keep the process light - the aim is to avoid politics.

“Business value is a common denominator to make requests comparable.”

In practice, performance work that removes a clear churn risk often scores at the top end. And conversion features that help returning buyers may sit just below when seasonal or dependency risks are real.

The number breaks ties during the cycle, and comparing planned versus actual value at the end sharpens judgement without turning the process into theatre.

4. Connect daily work to the point of the work

Backlogs fill with sensible tasks that don’t add up because objectives live in slides while planning happens elsewhere.

Move the goal into the place where day-to-day work lives.

Add a lightweight field to each work item that names the objective it serves, and make it routine to ask, “Which objective does this advance, and how will we prove it?”

The first week might feels fussy, but by the second, orphaned work will dry up and reviewers will stop arguing about “busy” versus “useful.”

“Delivery depends on collaboration, everything’s an assembly line to some degree.”

A simple weekly spot‑check helps: pick a handful of items at random and trace the thread from story to objective to the proof you named on day one. If the thread breaks, you’ve found your next edit.

5. Treat dependencies like first‑class work

Teams used to tie red string between cards on a wall for a reason: sequencing is where plans fail.

Our advice - keep the spirit, modernise the practice.

Put dependencies on the same board as objectives and give them plain statuses everyone recognises. When the order is sound, call it healthy. When dates are tight or a predecessor looks shaky, say it’s at risk. When today’s order makes delivery impossible without a change, name it a conflict and resolve it before you leave the room.

A quick handshake comment that captures the interface, owners on both sides, and the earliest need date is often enough. Ten minutes spent there saves weeks of drift later.

6. Replace status theatre with a short weekly review

Mid‑cycle, the other failure mode appears: hours disappear into updates while blockers linger.

Swap sprawling status for a tight ritual from one shared board.

Start with the handful of big dependencies and agree the next owner and date. Then run one minute per objective - current status in a sentence, the risk in a sentence, and the next move with a name and a date.

If risk or dates change, reorder the work. Don’t rewrite goals mid‑cycle unless safety or security demands it. Close with a two‑line decision log people can forward instead of scheduling another call.

“Keep it time boxed - one minute per objective, status, risk, next, unblock.”

This way, leaders get a reliable picture without interrupting and teams get protection from thrash - a kind of waste most organisations never measure.

7. Keep KPIs as dials, not a leaderboard

Treat KPIs like instruments, not trophies.

“KPIs are like being on a boat in your control room. They help you see what the engine is doing. While your goals are the course you set.”

Comparing velocity across teams is the classic trap.

People game story points, estimates inflate, trust shrinks. Instead, pick a couple of proofs that actually show the outcome moving.

This way, teams can understand why those numbers matter, and stakeholders will stop asking for dashboards that look impressive but say little.

8. Plan for moving targets without moving the posts

Goals do move, but constant interference makes things worse. If you keep moving goals mid‑cycle, teams never get a clean shot.

“Stick to the goals you agreed. Only adjust them at the right time, during planning, unless there is a genuine security issue.”

When a change is real, write down the trade in the weekly review.

What drops or slips to make room, who owns the move, and how will we know it was worth it. Read it aloud once and add a two‑line note to the log. It is not fancy, but people stop learning about decisions by rumour and the plan stays honest.

Bringing it together

Plans slip for ordinary reasons: the goal is fuzzy, the list is too long, value is argued in circles, and blockers stay hidden until it is late. The counter‑measures are ordinary as well, but they work when they are applied together.

Start by agreeing on one clear outcome that a stranger could test. Choose three to five objectives that would still make you proud if nothing else shipped. Give each objective a simple Business Value so people can settle trade‑offs quickly. Link day‑to‑day work to those objectives so the plan and the backlog live in the same place. Put dependencies on the board with plain labels everyone understands, and meet briefly each week to confirm status, risks and next moves. Keep a couple of honest measures that prove the outcome, and save goal changes for the next planning moment unless you have a genuine safety or security issue.

None of this requires a new philosophy. It does require steady habits, clear language, and enough trust for people to say what is true. That is why Andreas’ advice keeps coming back to simple tests and short conversations that expose trade‑offs early. When a team does these things together, progress becomes visible and delivery becomes predictable.

If you want to go deeper, listen to the podcast with Andreas for the cultural patterns behind these moves, watch the webinar with Hayley and Andreas for how a working room applies them, and try the one‑page goal-setting and tracking template once to help easily implement all these lessons in your team. Use whatever mix helps your team start, then keep the parts you maintain without effort.

Keep goals, work, and dependencies in one Jira view

If your planning and delivery already live in Jira, Easy Agile Programs can hold all these pieces in one shared place. You can:

• Capture your objectives for the cycle, mark Committed vs Stretch, and set a Business Value (1–10) with an Actual score at the end.
• Link epics and stories to those objectives (live‑synced with Jira) so anyone can trace work → objective → outcome during grooming or review.
• Plan on a Program Roadmap with milestones at the top, and schedule work on a Team Planning board that pulls straight from each team’s Jira backlog.
• Map cross‑team dependencies on the Program Board, with clear states (Healthy / At risk / Conflict) and named owners on each side.
• See risks at a glance with risk bars on epics (for example, when issues are scheduled outside the epic’s timeframe) and resolve them in the same view.
• Use Dependency and Objectives reports to see who is blocked, track progress against each objective, and decide what needs attention next.
• Run the weekly review from one screen: a compact Objectives view shows status, linked work, and Business Value; export a PNG for stakeholders who need an update.

Easy Agile Programs doesn’t replace your process. It supports it, reduces “what’s the current picture?” time, and helps distributed teams stay aligned without extra meetings.

Sign up for a free trial to see it for yourself.

TL;DR

Weekly PI Syncs work best when updates are evidence-based, not from anecdotal. When work in Jira is linked to measurable objectives and real-time status is visible, teams see momentum and risks early. Independent research shows that scattered information hides delays and consumes budget; evidence closes that gap.

Easy Agile Programs brings this into Jira. Teams create objectives, link every scheduled issue, and see concise progress bars and value scoring that make the impact clear. The result is faster, confident decisions, fewer update-chasing meetings, and customers see outcomes sooner.

Why tracking progress in Jira beats assumptions

It’s the first weekly PI Sync, and every team lead shares a confident “In Progress” update. By the second sync, a hidden dependency has derailed two of the teams, and leadership wonders how the story changed so quickly. Sound familiar? 

PI Syncs work best when updates are anchored in evidence. When each team links issues to clear objectives and shares progress tracked where the work lives in Jira, leaders see momentum and emerging risks early. The conversation can focus on decisions rather than debate.

Research shows the cost of scattered information is real. Atlassian’s 2025 State of Teams reports that leaders and teams waste 25% of their time searching for information, a symptom of poor reporting and fragmented data. When information is hard to find, decisions are slow, and delivery dates slip.

When you connect work to measurable objectives, make real-time status visible, and map dependencies across the PI, you provide everyone with the picture they need to see the logical next step. 

The Cost of Hidden Delays

In PMI’s 2020 Pulse of the Profession, organisations wasted 11.4 cents of every project dollar through poor performance. That’s real budget lost because problems stayed hidden until it was too late. 

Fast forward to 2023, and Harvard Business Review found that while 89 percent of large companies have a digital or AI transformation underway, they’ve captured only 31 percent of the revenue lift they expected, largely because they can’t verify progress against the outcomes they promised.

The Standish Group paints an even starker picture: just 16 percent of IT projects finish on time, on budget, and on scope. The rest overspend, under‑deliver, or stall altogether. 

Getting it wrong is expensive. 

Data Beats Guesswork

Intuition absolutely has a place in innovation, but there are much better barometers for risk. Teams that look beyond the ship date and measure success in terms of business value and strategic alignment, as well as customer impact and quality, deliver much better results. PMI’s 2025 research shows teams with high “business acumen” (i.e., robust performance measurement) meet their business goals 83 percent of the time and fail only 8 percent of the time.

Simply put, when you can point to objective data, you make better decisions earlier and improve your chances of maintaining momentum.

Three Capabilities for Reliable Tracking in Jira

To reliably track work and progress on objectives across multiple teams, you need to be able to see those objectives, their status, and their dependencies clearly.

1. Link every task to a clear goal
   When work connects directly to objectives, teams know why a story matters and leaders can see which goals risk slipping. Tools like Easy Agile Programs let you create tangible objectives inside Jira and link every issue to them. This is the foundation for tracking delivery progress in Jira across teams.
2. Surface real‑time health signals
   Use status pills, dependency maps, and filterable views to expose blockers as they emerge, not as they bite. When teams can spot problems early, they can rearrange sequencing to support each other and keep delivery moving. This is Jira progress tracking designed for teams of teams.
3. Maintain one source of truth
   When progress lives where the work lives, everyone sees the same numbers. No tool‑switching or chasing status updates. Shared context cuts through noise and lets leaders focus support where it counts. 

Plans Built for Shipping, Not Shelving

Easy Agile Programs embeds the capabilities you need to reliably track progress towards delivery. Objectives are visible, linked work is clear, dependencies are transparent, and status is current. That means teams can adjust early, before roadblocks cause delays.

Track progress on objectives with clarity

Objectives sit at the top of each increment with a concise progress bar that shows the percent complete and remaining work. Every scheduled Jira issue can be linked to an objective, so effort maps directly to outcomes. Product owners can add business-value scores to focus time where it matters most. The Objectives view and the Objectives Report provide a consolidated read on progress, grounded in Jira data rather than slide decks.

Map dependencies and blockers early

Open the Dependencies view or report to see relationships across teams. Visual links highlight upstream and downstream connections and flag items at risk. Select any link to open details such as owner, due date, and next steps, so teams can act before a small issue puts pressure on the schedule. You can also filter the Program Board by Initiatives to see the contributing epics and stories, plus any dependencies that could affect them.

Teams replace anecdotal updates with evidence they can show stakeholders. Leaders can avoid reactive firefighting to focus on coaching and delivery. Most importantly, customers feel the value sooner because plans that are aligned with objectives deliver outcomes that make a real difference.

Try It: Turn Progress into Proof

Easy Agile Programs installs in minutes, and with our easy setup guide, you can create a digital program board for your teams in Jira with minimal overhead. You can test the full functionality yourself with a free 30-day evaluation period, and once you've given your teams the clear picture of progress they need in Jira, you'll see anecdotal updates transform into evidence-based progress.