Best Project Management Software for Engineering OKRs

Engineering OKRs usually fail for a boring reason: the OKR lives in one place, the work lives in another, and progress gets copied around by hand. Leaders stop trusting the dashboard. Project managers chase updates. Developers ignore OKRs because the doc never matches what is in GitHub.

If you want real-time KPI tracking, you need project management software that updates from delivery signals: issues moving to Done, PRs merging, deployments shipping, and incidents closing. The right tool makes OKR tracking a lightweight layer on top of execution. The wrong tool turns it into a weekly spreadsheet exercise.

This guide is for engineering managers, technical leads, and PMs selecting the best engineering project management software for OKR execution and KPI reporting. You will get a comparison table, a setup playbook per tool, and a 30-day rollout plan that works for product teams and engineering firms with budgets, utilization, and milestone reporting.

Project management software comparison table for engineering OKRs

Quick comparison (8 tools)

How to pick the right tool for OKRs and real-time KPIs

• If developers live in GitHub: favor tools that update status from PR events. Otherwise OKR progress becomes manual. Start with git integration project management tools.
• If leadership wants “real time”: make sure the tool can pull from delivery signals and show a small KPI set. That is what “best tools for tracking project KPIs and OKRs in real-time” looks like in practice.
• If you are an engineering firm: prioritize templates, phase reporting, and budget or effort fields. Without that, OKRs become detached from commercial constraints.

HighFly

Setup time

10 to 30 minutes for a pilot. Start with one team, one OKR board, and 10 active work items. HighFly stays lightweight by default, and built-in automations reduce “move the card” work.

Workflow example

Tie a key result like “Reduce median PR cycle time to under 24 hours” to a set of work items, then use PR merges as the signal for progress. This keeps OKR updates close to delivery. If context switching is your biggest drag, pair this with context switching and developer productivity.

Pricing and limits

Paid plans start at $8 per user per month. HighFly is lightweight and easy to use for both technical and non-technical people, with automations that keep the board current. If you need heavy portfolio governance, you may pair it with a separate reporting layer.

Migration tip

Do not migrate the whole backlog. Move the current sprint or active lane, plus the next 20 items. Prove that OKR progress stays accurate for 2 weeks, then migrate more.

Jira Software

Setup time

1 to 3 days for a clean setup, longer if you standardize across many teams. Jira can model almost any workflow, but OKR tracking depends on conventions and consistent linking between epics and outcomes.

Workflow example

Create an “OKR” issue type and link epics to key results. Use automation rules so merged PRs update linked issues. Keep status names consistent and avoid adding fields that nobody maintains.

Pricing and limits

Atlassian publishes current plans on the Jira pricing page. The cost you feel is usually admin time plus add-ons. If OKR data lives in custom fields, assign an owner for field hygiene or your dashboards will drift.

Migration tip

If you are moving away from Jira, simplify first. Collapse statuses and remove mandatory fields before exporting. Otherwise you migrate complexity, not just data.

Linear

Setup time

30 to 60 minutes for a pilot team. Linear is opinionated and fast, which helps adoption. For OKRs, you usually map work with labels and projects, then review progress in cycles.

Workflow example

Create a quarterly project per key result, then link PRs so merges close work automatically. Track a small KPI set like throughput and lead time, and use cycle reviews to adjust scope. This is a practical version of linear project management software OKRs goal tracking.

Pricing and limits

Linear publishes plans on its pricing page. Linear is strong at execution speed, but it is not built as a full OKR system. If leadership needs multi-level OKR rollups, plan to add a reporting layer or keep OKR review lightweight.

Migration tip

Migrate active epics and issues first, then map Jira statuses to a smaller Linear workflow. Linear works best with fewer states and clean issue hygiene.

Asana

Setup time

1 to 2 hours for a team setup with goals and a project structure. Asana is often chosen when you need OKR visibility across engineering, product, and go-to-market teams, not just inside an issue tracker.

Workflow example

Create objectives in Asana Goals and link them to projects that represent key results. Keep engineering work linked through integrations and a consistent definition of done. For leadership, a goals view plus one KPI dashboard is easier to maintain than weekly slide updates.

Pricing and limits

Asana publishes pricing on its pricing page. Asana’s OKR fit is strongest when your org accepts a slightly higher abstraction than PR-level signals. If developers resist manual updates, prioritize automations and minimize required fields.

Migration tip

Start by mapping epics to Asana projects and keep the first workflow simple. Train teams on dependencies and ownership, not on creating more statuses.

ClickUp

Setup time

30 to 90 minutes for a working space, then ongoing tuning. ClickUp can represent OKRs, tasks, docs, and dashboards in one place, which is useful if you are consolidating tools.

Workflow example

Create a folder per objective and a list per key result, then drive execution through a single board. Keep automations minimal: one rule for moving work to Done, one reminder for stale items. If every status change triggers notifications, people mute it and your OKR dashboard drifts.

Pricing and limits

ClickUp publishes plans on its pricing page. The main risk is over-configuration. Keep the data model small and enforce it, or you will get reporting drift that looks like “almost accurate” dashboards.

Migration tip

Migrate your workflow, not your history. Import only active work and standardize statuses first. Then add fields only when they change decisions.

Wrike

Setup time

1 to 3 days for a useful workflow when approvals, handoffs, and reporting matter. Wrike is common in engineering firms that need a structured system across project phases and stakeholders.

Workflow example

Model projects by phase (design, review, implementation, closeout), then map key results to the phases that move the KPI. Example: a KR about on-time delivery links to milestones and approval steps. Keep a dashboard that shows schedule variance plus engineering throughput so OKR reviews stay grounded.

Pricing and limits

Wrike publishes plan details on the pricing page. Wrike can handle structured reporting, but it requires a clear owner for templates and field hygiene. Without that, dashboards become inconsistent across projects.

Migration tip

Convert one project end-to-end first. Validate templates, approvals, and reporting. Only then migrate the rest. This avoids rolling out a structure that breaks in week two.

Smartsheet

Setup time

1 to 2 days if you are building templates, rollups, and dashboards. Smartsheet fits civil engineering and consulting teams that need schedule control, consistent reporting, and a spreadsheet-friendly model.

Workflow example

Keep one sheet as the execution plan with phases and milestones, then build a rollup dashboard for KPI and OKR review. If you track utilization or budget vs actuals elsewhere, link it at the summary level. Avoid updating the same numbers in two places.

Pricing and limits

Smartsheet publishes pricing on its pricing page. Smartsheet is powerful for rollups, but the risk is manual updates. If OKR progress depends on someone copying numbers weekly, it will fall behind.

Migration tip

Lock templates early. If each project invents its own columns, rollups stop working. Treat your sheet schema like a shared data model.

Zenhub

Setup time

30 to 60 minutes if you already use GitHub Issues. Zenhub overlays planning on top of GitHub, which is useful when you want fewer tools and a tighter link between OKRs and delivery work.

Workflow example

Use GitHub Issues as the work system and Zenhub boards for planning. Map key results to epics, then track progress by issue state and PR merges. This keeps OKR progress close to the code, but it assumes consistent issue hygiene.

Pricing and limits

Zenhub publishes plan details on its pricing page. Zenhub works best when GitHub is the source of truth. If you need formal project accounting or heavy cross-department workflows, you may still need a broader platform.

Migration tip

If you are leaving Jira for a GitHub-native workflow, migrate the current epic set and active issues first. Keep the same IDs in titles during the pilot to avoid breaking links across docs and commits.

Mapping engineering OKRs to issues, PRs, and KPIs

Write key results you can measure from delivery data

The fastest path to real-time OKR tracking is to choose key results that match data you already have. If your KRs require weekly “percent complete” updates, they will decay.

Use one linking rule so work stays connected to OKRs

Pick a rule that developers will actually follow. A practical default is: include the issue ID in the branch name or commit messages. This keeps OKR progress connected without extra clicks.

# Example: branch and commit messages that stay linkable
git checkout -b kr-leadtime/HF-214-reduce-review-latency
git commit -m "perf(ci): parallelize lint and tests"

Automate OKR signals from GitHub events

The simplest automation is: “PR merged moves the linked work item to Done”. If you want a lightweight sync, a GitHub Action can post a webhook on merge. Keep it narrow. Only sync events you will use in weekly review.

If you want more ways to keep work accurate without manual updates, see project automation for teams.

Implementing OKR-aware project management in 30 days

Week 1: define one objective and instrumentable key results

Start with one objective engineering can influence directly, like delivery speed or reliability. Write 2 to 3 key results with measurable thresholds. Reject key results that depend on subjective scoring.

Week 2: connect GitHub and remove one manual status step

Pick one automation that saves time immediately, like updating a work item when a PR merges. That single change often cuts 60 to 90 minutes per week of status overhead for a small team because the board stays current. If you want a deeper implementation guide, see complete guide to integrations for dev teams.

Week 3: map active work to key results and publish a KPI dashboard

Tag 10 to 20 active work items to key results. Then publish a dashboard with only what changes decisions: progress per KR, blocked items, cycle time trend, and planned vs shipped. If your status updates are messy, use a simple format from project status tracking examples for agile teams.

Week 4: run a 15-minute OKR check-in and expand only after it works

Use live data, not slides. End the meeting with a clear decision: what changed, what is blocked, and what you will stop doing to protect the key results. If you need a broader tool shortlist for developers, see best task management software for development teams.