Link goals and projects to work in Jira

Teams can connect their work to their Jira work to their Atlassian goals and projects.

Atlassian Projects are communication tools that bring project links, context, and weekly updates into a single page so anyone can follow along. These are different from Jira projects, where teams manage and track work items directly.

When you connect your Jira work to Atlassian projects and goals, you connect day‑to‑day execution with strategy, so teams see how their work drives outcomes and can track up‑to‑date progress at a glance.

How to link goals to work in Jira

Enable the Goals field in the work item

If you haven’t linked a work item to a goal before, you’ll need to enable the Goals field first:

1. Open a work item of the type you'd like to add the Goals field to.

2. Select Configure at the bottom-right of the work item (near the created and updated dates).

3. In the Fields panel, search for Goals.

4. Drag the Goals field to the Context fields section.

5. Select Save changes to finalize.

If the Goals field doesn’t appear in the Fields panel, it means it hasn’t been added to your space yet. Follow this two-step process to add a new field.

Link a goal in the work item

1. Open the relevant work item.

2. Check that the Goals field is enabled.

3. Select the Goals field.

4. There are three ways to link a goal:

   1. Create a new goal by selecting + Create, assign a name and owner, then select Create.

   2. Search for a goal, then press Enter on your keyboard.

   3. Paste a link to a goal, then select Add.

5. Optionally, repeat these steps for any additional goals you want to add.

To unlink a goal, hover over the goal you’d like to remove and select the X to unlink it from the work item.

Read more about goals in Atlassian Home

How to link projects to work in Jira

When you link a Jira epic to a project in Atlassian Home, any changes to the name or dates in one will automatically update in the other.

If you need to connect several Jira epics or work items to a single goal, progress won’t be automatically calculated across all of them. Instead, you can use sub‑goals to represent each piece of work and track their progress.

From Atlassian Home

1. Go to the Jira epic’s you want to link and copy the link in your browser’s address bar. You can also select the icon next to the work item key at the top of the page.

2. Go to the project page's sidebar and paste the link in the Where is the work tracked? field.

3. After adding the link, you’ll be prompted to sync this project with the epic.

   1. If you dismiss the prompt, you can still sync with the epic later by clicking the pencil icon next to the link and selecting the Sync with Jira button.

From Jira

Linking a project in Atlassian Home from the Jira epic will automatically sync details between the two of them, keeping the name, start date, and target dates the same between both. That means any changes in one place will automatically be reflected in the other. If you need to add more links to your project in Atlassian Home without syncing them, you can add them to the Related Links field on the project page.

1. Go to the Jira epic you want to link and look for the Atlassian Projects section in the fields on the right side of the page.

2. From the Atlassian Projects section, you can search or create a project in Atlassian Home to link to this epic.

3. Confirm whether you want to use details from the Jira epic or project in Atlassian Home going forward once they’re synced.

   1. You’ll have to choose a name, start date, and target date to use. You can also choose to sync tags as well.

4. The Jira epic and project in Atlassian Home are now in sync, and any changes will be reflected in both places. This will also add two additional custom fields to your Jira Cloud instance, which can be used for additional reporting:

   1. Project overview key

   2. Project overview status

Read more about projects in Atlassian Home

How to post Atlassian project updates from Jira

You or other team members may prefer to stay within a single tool rather than switching over to just to write an update. Once you’ve linked a project in Atlassian Home, you can post updates directly from the Atlassian Projects section in the Jira epic.

1. Check to make sure you are the owner or a contributor to the project in Atlassian Home.

2. Find the Atlassian Projects section in the epic page and select the field that says “Post your update”.

3. The update composer from Atlassian Home will open, allowing you to use the same exact set of tools within Jira, including templates, details section, images, videos, the character counter, and more.

4. Once you’ve written your update, select the Post button

You’ll also be able to view recent updates in the same Atlassian Projects section of the epic.

How to link goals to work in Jira

Goals can be linked to work items in the list and in the work item of your Jira project.

To link a goal to a work item in your list:

1. Navigate to the List view of your Jira project.

2. Check that you have the Goals field enabled. How to enable the Goals field

3. Under the Goals column, select the corresponding cell for the work item you want to link a goal to.

4. Search for a goal and select it, or paste a link to a goal.

5. Your changes will be saved automatically.

Read more on how to link and unlink goals to work items in your Jira list