In short:
In this article, you’ll learn how Goals in Timebook work on three levels: organizational, team, and individual, ensuring all parts of your business stay aligned. It explains how to create and manage Goals and connect them to other Timebook objects. There is also a dedicated section on Key Results, which helps track progress toward your Goals, breaking down objectives into actionable steps.
What are Goals?
In Timebook, Goals are essential for guiding your efforts and helping you move from planning to execution. Whether aiming for personal milestones, team achievements, or company-wide targets, Goals provide the structure needed to stay on track and measure success.
Goals in Timebook operate on three levels—, , and . A personal Goal might focus on individual growth, while Team Goals align your department's efforts, and Workplace Goals steer the entire organization. No matter the level, every Goal is designed to keep your objectives visible, actionable, and linked to the actual work.
As a Team Admin or Owner, you must first enable the [Goals] module and its features in your Team's settings. You can also customize the module's behavior by creating custom statuses or increasing automatization by integrating with Git.
In Timebook, the strategic planning of Goals can be managed on three levels, depending on the scope. This gives you the flexibility to manage everything from personal milestones to organization-wide objectives.
[Goals] module at the Workplace level
This module helps you focus on the big picture as you manage the high-level strategy. You can open the module directly from the Navigator on the left. Two tabs are available here:
The [Workplace] tab in this module shows all Goals related to your entire Timebook Workplace. Use this tab to manage and create company-wide objectives.
The [Teams] tab shows all Goals assigned to specific Teams. You can group data in this tab to create a more focused view of objectives.
[Goals] module at the Team level
Each Timebook Team has a dedicated module for managing Goals, offering multiple perspectives through different data layouts.
The Team-level [Goals] module helps plan, track, and coordinate collaboration on shared objectives. By default, each Goal created in this module is assigned to the Team, but you can change this later.
[Goals] module at the Personal level
In short, [Personal] is much like other Timebook Teams. But this is a team of one, where you can work on your private content and data, which remain visible only to you unless you decide to share them with others.
[Personal] also has its own [Goals] module to help you set and track individual milestones and objectives. By default, each Goal created in this module is marked as personal, but you can change this later.
As a CEO, you can use the [Goals] module at the Workplace level to drive the organization's strategic vision by setting high-level objectives that align teams across the company.
As a Team Leader, the [Goals] module at the Team level helps you guide others towards shared objectives, ensuring that everyone is working in sync. You can align Team Goals with broader company objectives and connect them with the actual work.
All [Goals] modules hold all the objective-related data, which you can customize using various layouts, filters, and grouping options. Additionally, you can save these customized views as public for all members to access or keep them private for your personal use.
We have dedicated articles that explain how to manage data views and layouts in several Timebook modules, including this one.
You can create Goals in the following places in Timebook. Regardless of where you create a Goal, the process is nearly identical:
In the dedicated module at the Workplace level, where you can set Goals for the entire organization or specific Teams.
In the dedicated module at the Team level, if you want to create a Goal specifically for this Team.
In the [Personal] module, if you want to quickly create a Goal for yourself.
To create a Goal:
Click the [+] button at the top of the list of Goals. The button placement may vary depending on your chosen data layout.
Give your new Goal a meaningful name. At this stage, you can also:
Change the scope by making it a Workplace, Team, or Personal Goal.
Add a short description or define basic properties.
Add a Key Result to your Goal. See here for more information on Key Results.
Click [Create...] to save your changes.
The new Goal is added to the list. Open its card to edit details and access all the available options and properties.
After you create a Goal, you can use its [Related] section to connect it to other Timebook objects. This way, you can easily align objectives with the actual work.
In Timebook, each Goal has its own card that displays all the options and properties you can use to manage it. In different layouts, you can also use cards to move your Goals around. For instance, you can drag and drop a Goal card to:
Drag the Goal to another Team in the to reassign it.
Change the Goal's position in the List layout.
After you open a Goal card, you can manage and navigate using the options in the top bar.
Options available in the Goal's top bar
[Navigation arrows]
These arrows help you navigate between recently opened objects. Use the arrows to quickly return to the previous object and then move back to the original one. This is especially useful when navigating between linked objects or parent and sub-objects.
[Parent object indicator]
If your Goal has a defined parent object, we will show the parent's type and name here. You can click the indicator to open the parent object's card.
[Item ID]
This field shows the unique number of your Goal in Timebook. Click the ID field to copy it for future reference.
The following options are available in the top-right corner of the card:
[Collapse/Expand]
This button lets you show or hide the right-side drawer. The drawer contains all the properties of your Goal, such as Assignee, Due date, and more. Expand the drawer to modify properties or collapse it to focus on the description or attachments
[Copy link]
Use this button to copy a link to your Goal for quick sharing with others.
[Watch]
This feature is useful if you are not the creator or assignee but still want to track changes. When you start watching a Goal, we will notify you about all important changes. You can also assign others to watch a Goal.
[...]
Use this additional menu for more options. You can [Duplicate] your Goal to create an identical copy in the same location, [Link parent] to select a parent object for your Goal, or [Delete] it if it's no longer needed.
You can safely close a Goal card by clicking out of it. We will save all the changes you made to the Goal.
What are Key Results?
Key Results are the specific, measurable outcomes that help you track progress toward achieving your Goals. They break down broad objectives into tangible, actionable benchmarks, ensuring you can evaluate performance along the way.
In Timebook, Key Results go beyond providing metrics—they also serve as a bridge between Goals and other elements within the platform. This means a single Goal can have multiple Key Results, each associated with various Timebook objects. Using Key Results strategically, you can align high-level objectives with day-to-day work.
In the [Key Results] section of the Goal card, you can create Key Results and link them to related objects. There is also an overview of these linked objects so you can easily interact with them.
Use the You can link the following objects to a Key Result:
Key Results in Timebook include the risk assessment indicator, allowing you to label them as [No risk], [At risk], or [High risk] for quick status updates.
Goal cards: sections
When you look at the left side of a Goal card, you'll notice several sections. Each section has a specific purpose: to help you describe your objectives, add metrics, or add supporting resources.
Here’s an overview of the sections of a Goal card and their purpose:
Name
You can edit this field at any time to rename your Goal. Next to this field is a switch that lets you change the type of your Goal. Click the icon next to the name to select a different type.
Tags
This section allows you to categorize your Goal using tags. Tags help you find and identify objects in Timebook, as you can filter or group content by tags in various modules.
You can [Add tags] using the dedicated button or remove them by hovering over a tag and clicking [X]. For more information, see Tags*
Key Results
Key Results are the necessary elements linking Goals to other Timebook objects. This article has a section dedicated to Key Results.
This is where you provide more details about your Goal. Enter text here, or press "/" to access advanced options. Use them to format your description, link other Timebook elements, or insert embedded content from external sources.
These text-formatting options are similar to those available in Timebook Documents. For more information, see Blocks*
Links & attachments
This section is where you can support a Goal with links to external resources or attachments, such as files or Timebook Documents. Click the [+] button and choose the type of resource you want to add. Next, provide the link and a brief description.
Each linked resource type is marked with a dedicated icon, so you can quickly distinguish Figma links from Loom links, for example.
Sub-Goals
In Timebook, you can create a hierarchy of Goals by adding sub-Goals. They represent smaller milestones that break down Goals into manageable pieces. Click the [+] button in this section to create sub-Goals, or use the [Link] button to browse and select existing Goals to turn them into sub-Goals.
All sub-goal cards are displayed here with indicators that show whether they are assigned to a specific Team or the entire Workplace. You can unlink these sub-Goals from the main Goal by clicking the [...] icon and selecting [Unlink].
Related
While [Sub-Goals] show the parent-child relationship, the [Related] section focuses on dependencies between the Goal and other Timebook objects. Click the [+] button in this section and use the dropdown menu to select the type of dependency, such as "Is blocked by", "Supports", or "Generated from". Next, use the search bar to find and link an existing Timebook object.
Here, you can link your Goal to other object types; for example, you can create a link between a Work Item and a Goal.
The sections presented above are not exclusive to Goal cards.
Cards of other object types in Timebook, such as Work Items or Tickets, have nearly identical designs.
Goal cards: tabs
When you look at the right side of a Goal card, you'll notice several tabs. Each allows you to further define your Goal, schedule the actual work, or provide an update.
Here’s an overview of the Goal card tabs and their purpose:
Tabs of a Goal card
[Properties]
You can use multiple fields in this tab to fine-tune, categorize, or time-box your Goal. You can start by changing the due date or Team assignment, but there are more properties to handle more complex cases. For more details, see our separate article dedicated to Properties*
[Schedule]
This tab shows the time slots dedicated to actual work. You can schedule more by using the [+] button and clicking anywhere on the calendar grid. This will create a tile representing the time slot scheduled for this Goal. This tab is your go-to when you want to check how much time was spent designing a specific Goal.
[Comments]
This tab allows Workplace members to communicate, share updates, and collaborate directly within the Goal. They can ask questions, provide updates, or offer feedback, making it a central hub for goal-related communication. You can mention others using the @ symbol and notify specific people directly. For more information on how comments work in Timebook, see Pages*
[Activity]
This tab tracks all actions and changes made to a Goal, providing a detailed history of events. It displays all events in chronological order, showing when changes were made and by whom. The information in this tab is generated automatically, usually including name changes, reassignments, and comments.
We put all the tabs in a drawer, so you can hide them by clicking the [Collapse/Expand] button at the top of your Goal card.
