Milestones & goals

Milestones, goals and objectives each have their own screen in Flow's project sidebar, and each answers a different question.

• Milestones are dated checkpoints. Each one holds a checklist of tasks, and Flow works out the milestone's status and progress from that checklist.
• Goals are measurable targets with key results. You set a goal's status and progress yourself.
• Objectives are larger aims with a start date, a target date and key results. Each objective has its own board of goals.

All three use the same four statuses: Not Started, On Track, At Risk and Completed.

Milestones and objectives also show up in the issue tracker: each milestone as a cycle, and each objective as a division. See Cycles, divisions and initiatives.

The Goals screen lists only goals that don't belong to an objective. Goals you add on an objective's board stay on that board. A milestone's tasks are separate from the tasks on the Tasks screen, so checking one off doesn't change the other.

To create a milestone, choose Milestones in the project sidebar, then New Milestone. Only the title is required: Create Milestone stays disabled until there is one.

• Milestone Title and Description: what the milestone delivers.
• Owner: free text that starts as You.
• Target Date: when the milestone is due. Set one, because Flow orders milestones by it and uses it to flag them overdue.
• Tasks: the milestone's checklist. Each row has a task name, an assignee (free text) and a status: To Do, In Progress, Blocked or Done. New rows start as To Do. Choose Add for another row, or the × beside a row to remove it.

Rows without a task name are dropped when you save.

Flow sets a milestone's status from its tasks, so there is no status to pick.

• Not Started: every task is To Do, or the milestone has no tasks.
• On Track: at least one task is In Progress or Done, and none is Blocked.
• At Risk: at least one task is Blocked.
• Completed: every task is Done.

A milestone's progress is the share of its tasks that are Done, rounded to a whole percent. A milestone is overdue once its target date arrives and it isn't Completed. Its row then shows an Overdue badge beside the status.

The figures across the top of the Milestones screen cover every milestone in the project: Total milestones (with how many are completed), Task completion (the share of all milestone tasks that are Done), Overdue and Tasks in scope (how many tasks the milestones hold). The status filter and search don't change them.

Milestones are listed by target date, earliest first. Filter them by status, or search by title, description, owner or task name. When a search matches a task name, that milestone's tasks open so you can see the match. If nothing matches, Clear filters resets the search and the status filter.

Each row shows the target date, the number of tasks, the owner and how many tasks are done. Choose Show tasks to list a milestone's tasks, then click a task to mark it Done, or click a Done task to set it back to To Do. Each click saves straight away.

The list shows 10 milestones a page to start with. Switch to 25, 50 or 100 at the bottom, or change the project's starting size under Settings → General → Default rows per page.

Each milestone's ⋯ menu has Edit and Delete. Edit opens the milestone's form, where you can change any field, add or remove tasks, and set a task to In Progress or Blocked. Choose Save Changes to keep your edits.

Delete asks you to confirm first, and a deleted milestone can't be restored from Flow.

To create a goal, choose Goals in the project sidebar, then Define New Goal. Only the title is required: Create Goal stays disabled until there is one.

• Goal Title and Description: what the goal aims to achieve.
• Status: Not Started, On Track, At Risk or Completed. New goals start as Not Started.
• Target Date: when the goal is due.
• Owner: free text that starts as You.
• Progress (%): a number from 0 to 100. New goals start at 0.
• Key Results: the measurable results that show the goal is met. Type one per row and choose Add for more. Empty rows are dropped when you save.

The form also has Progress Source, Track Metric and Target. Flow saves them with the goal, but they don't calculate its progress for you.

The figures across the top of the Goals screen count the goals listed there: Total goals (with how many are completed), On track, At risk and Avg. progress. The status filter and search don't change them.

The newest goals come first. Filter by status, or search by title, description or owner. Each row shows the goal's owner, target date, how many key results are done, its status and its progress.

Each goal's ⋯ menu has:

• Edit: opens the goal's form to change any field, including each key result's progress.
• Duplicate: adds a copy with (Copy) at the end of its title. The copy is Not Started, with 0% progress and its key results reset to 0%.
• Not Started, On Track, At Risk and Completed: change the status. Completed also sets progress to 100%, and Not Started sets it to 0%.
• Delete: asks you to confirm first. A deleted goal can't be restored from Flow.

The list shows 10 goals a page to start with. Switch to 25, 50 or 100 at the bottom.

Goals and objectives both carry key results: short, measurable statements of what success looks like. When you create a goal or objective, you only name its key results. Once it exists, choose Edit in its ⋯ menu to give each key result a progress from 0 to 100. A key result counts as done at 100, and lists and cards show how many are done.

A goal's or objective's own progress doesn't come from its key results. For a goal, it's the number in Progress (%). An objective starts at 0% and has no progress field: choosing Completed in its ⋯ menu sets it to 100%, and Not Started sets it back to 0%. On Track and At Risk leave progress as it is, for goals and objectives alike.

To create an objective, choose Objectives in the project sidebar, then New Objective. The title, start date and target date are required: Create Objective stays disabled until all three are set.

• Objective Title and Description: what the objective aims to achieve.
• Status: Not Started, On Track, At Risk or Completed. New objectives start as Not Started.
• Start Date and Target Date: the period the objective covers.
• Owner: free text that starts as You.
• Key Results: type one per row and choose Add for more. Empty rows are dropped when you save.

New objectives start at 0% progress, with an empty goal board.

The figures across the top of the Objectives screen count every objective in the project: Total objectives (with how many are completed), On track, At risk and Avg. progress. The status filter and search don't change them.

Objectives show as cards to start with, and the two buttons beside the status filter switch between cards and a compact list. The newest objectives come first. Filter by status, or search by title, description or owner. Each objective shows its owner, start and target dates, how many key results are done and its progress. On a card, the Key Results toggle lists them.

Each objective's ⋯ menu has Edit, Duplicate, the four statuses and Delete. Duplicate adds a copy with (Copy) at the end of its title, set to Not Started with 0% progress and its key results reset to 0%. The copy's goal board starts empty.

Delete asks you to confirm first, and a deleted objective can't be restored from Flow. The goals on its board go with it, and they don't move to the Goals screen.

The list shows 10 objectives a page to start with. Switch to 25, 50 or 100 at the bottom.

To open an objective's goal board, choose the arrow at the right of its card or row on the Objectives screen. The top of the board shows the objective's status, description, progress, dates and key results, and the back arrow returns to the list.

Goals sit in columns by status: Not Started, On Track, At Risk and Completed, each with a count. To add a goal, choose the + at the top of a column. The New Goal form has the same fields as on the Goals screen, and the goal lands in the column you started from.

Drag a card by the handle at its top left to move it to another column, which changes its status, or to reorder it within a column. Flow saves the new status and order when you drop the card.

Each card shows the goal's owner, how many key results are done and its progress. Its ⋯ menu has Edit, Duplicate and Delete. On the board, Duplicate copies everything, including the status, progress and key results. Delete removes the goal straight away, without asking, and it can't be restored from Flow.