# What is a goal list?

A goal list puts your key numbers against the **targets** they should reach,
grouped into sections, so a team can read straight down it. Every goal comes
out as **on target**, **at risk** or **missed**, and a summary at the top says
how many of each and which ones need attention.

## What it represents

A goal list is a KPI review, written down. A dashboard shows numbers; a goal
list **judges** them. It's the page for the weekly meeting: the same goals,
in the same order, each with a verdict, so the conversation goes to the ones
that slipped.

A goal is one number and a rule:

| The value… | Status |
|---|---|
| meets the **target** | On target |
| doesn't, but meets the optional **at-risk** line | At risk |
| meets neither | Missed |
| has no number | No data |

A rule reads *at least*, *at most*, *more than*, *less than*, *exactly* or
*between*. With a target of *at most 300 ms* and an at-risk line of *less
than 800 ms*, 250 is on target, 500 is at risk and 900 is missed.

The number comes from a **metric**, or from a saved single stat card. The
goal list adds only the target, so the metric stays the one definition of the
number wherever it's used.

## How it's set up

**Goals → Goal lists → New goal list**:

1. **Name it**, and choose the **period** its goals are judged over. *Previous
   week* suits a weekly meeting.
2. Choose **Personal** or **Shared**. A team's list should be shared; it can
   then hold only shared metrics.
3. **Add a section** (Reliability, Traffic, Support) and add goals to it.
4. For each goal, **pick the metric and set the target**. A metric whose
   colour rules include a success rule fills the target in for you.
5. **Order them** by dragging, or with ↑ and ↓. The order is the order the
   meeting reads them in.

A goal can also carry its own label, a note (who owns it, say) and its own
period.

You can add a goal from the other direction too: **Add to goals** is on a
metric's page, in the metrics list, and on single stat cards.

## How to use it

- **Read it in the meeting.** Change the period with the links above the
  summary. **Present** hides the site's menus and makes everything larger for
  a shared screen.
- **Open what slipped.** Click a name under *Needs attention* to jump to that
  goal, and click its value to see the rows behind it.
- **See the direction.** Each goal shows its last six periods as small bars,
  coloured by how each did; the outlined one is the period still running.
  It says when the finished ones are on a run: *Missed 3 weeks running*.
- **Check what a goal means.** Hover its name to see its metric's description.
- **Look back.** **Weeks** shows any past week as it was, and week over week
  in a grid. **History** does the same at other rhythms.
- **Take it with you.** **Print** makes a document of what's on screen.
- **Show it elsewhere.** A **Goals** card puts the list's summary on a
  dashboard, and a playlist can show it as a slide.

## Good to know

- **Goals with no number are left out of the count.** "6 of 8 on target"
  means six of the eight that have a number.
- **A count of nothing is zero**, so *failed jobs* reads as on target when no
  job ran at all. An average with no rows has no number.
- **This week is still running.** A number that only goes up looks on target
  early in the week. Read *Last week* in a meeting.
- **Sharing the list doesn't share its data.** Someone who can't read a
  metric's dataset sees no number for that goal.
- Deleting a metric removes its goals from the lists you can edit, and the
  confirmation tells you how many.