Manage Session cadence

Cadence keeps a Session reviewable

A Session is the planning container for a Goals/OKRs cycle. The Session name and Timeframe tell people what period the plan covers. The Check-in cadence tells owners how often Key Results should be updated during that period.

Cadence matters because Goals/OKRs are not just a planning artifact. They need a review rhythm. If people only update Key Results at the end of the Session, the team loses the story of what changed, when risk appeared, and which Initiative canvases actually moved the outcome.

If you have not created the planning container yet, start with Create a Session. If you are ready to update progress, see Check in progress.

Availability and permissions

If the Session settings are missing or read-only, use Troubleshoot OKR permissions before recreating the Session.

Understand Timeframe and Check-in cadence

The Session Timeframe is the date range for the planning period. It answers, “When does this plan start and end?”

The Check-in cadence is the update rhythm inside that Timeframe. It answers, “How often should owners review and update Key Results?”

A quarterly Session can still use weekly Check-ins. A monthly launch-readiness Session can use a weekly cadence or an Every two weeks cadence. A long strategic Session can use monthly Check-ins if progress data changes slowly. The right cadence is the one your team will actually use.

Choose the cadence

Choose the day intentionally:

• If your team reviews Goals/OKRs on Monday, a Friday Check-in day gives owners time to update before the meeting.
• If your review is Friday afternoon, a Thursday Check-in day may work better.
• Avoid setting the cadence day to the same hour as the review; people need time to add context, not just numbers.

Use Workspace Calendar when the review rhythm needs to sit beside project dates and Google events.

Name Sessions so they survive later review

Good Session names are specific, short, and time-aware. A person should be able to identify the period without opening the details.

Do not put the entire strategy into the Session name. The Session name identifies the planning container. Objectives hold the direction. Key Results hold the measurements. Initiatives are the connected canvases where the work is planned and reviewed.

Plan the Session period

Match the Timeframe to the way your team makes decisions.

Avoid creating a Session with no real end date. A planning period that never ends becomes a dumping ground for stale Objectives and makes current progress harder to read.

If a Session overlaps another Session, check whether the overlap is intentional. Parallel Sessions can make sense when different teams or programs plan separately, but duplicates for the same team and period usually create reporting confusion.

Use Parent Session carefully

Some workspaces support a Parent Session field. Use it when a planning period belongs under a larger period, such as a department Session under a company Session, a launch-readiness Session under a quarterly Session, or a team Session under a program Session.

Parent Session creates structure in the Goals/OKRs Session list. It does not replace Objective hierarchy inside a Session. Use the Session list to understand planning containers. Use Tree view to understand how Objectives and Key Results cascade inside one Session.

If a parent Session is archived or unavailable, active child Sessions can still appear as top-level Sessions in active views. That is expected: current work should not disappear just because an older parent was archived.

Know when to create a new Session

Create a new Session when the planning period changes, the review cadence changes meaningfully, the team is starting a new cycle, or the old Objectives should become historical context instead of current work.

Keep the existing Session when the work is still part of the same planning period and you only need to add another Objective, Key Result, or Initiative. Adding a new Objective is usually cleaner than creating a duplicate Session for a small scope change.

Do not create a new Session only because you cannot find the current one. Clear filters, check Sessions in progress, check archived Sessions, and confirm the active workspace first.

Active, in-progress, completed, and archived Sessions

Goals/OKRs views can separate current work from historical work. Depending on the view, you may see labels or filters such as Sessions in progress, Active, Completed, or Archived.

An active Session is generally the Session your team can still use for current planning or review. A completed Session may remain visible for historical review. An archived Session is removed from active planning surfaces so it does not clutter current work.

Archived Sessions are not the same as deleted Sessions. They can still matter for retrospectives, historical Snapshots, and support questions. If a Session disappears from the active list, check the archive state before assuming someone deleted it.

How cadence affects Check-ins and reviews

The Check-in cadence sets the expected rhythm for progress updates. Owners should Check in before review meetings, not afterward. A good Check-in includes the current value, status, and a note explaining what changed.

Snapshots are more useful when owners follow the cadence. A weekly Snapshot with stale Check-ins tells reviewers what was missing, not what changed. Use the cadence as the operating agreement for keeping review data fresh.

Inbox or notification rules may alert owners, collaborators, or other relevant people about Check-ins depending on workspace settings. Notifications help, but they do not replace ownership. Each Key Result still needs a person responsible for keeping progress current.

Changing cadence during a Session

You can adjust cadence when the review rhythm changes, but do it deliberately. Changing from monthly to weekly can make sense when a launch enters a higher-risk period. Changing from weekly to monthly can make sense after a stabilization phase.

Before changing cadence, tell owners what changes. If people expect Friday updates and the cadence moves to Monday, the first week can look late even when the work is fine.

Changing cadence does not rewrite the meaning of past Check-ins. Historical updates still represent the date and context when they were made.

Common mistakes

Do not set a weekly cadence if no one will review weekly. It creates noise and trains people to ignore missed updates.

Do not create separate Sessions for every small workstream when one Session with clear Objectives would make review easier.

Do not leave old Sessions active forever. Current views become harder to scan when historical work stays mixed with live work.

Do not use Parent Session as a substitute for Objective hierarchy. Parent Session organizes planning containers; Objective hierarchy organizes Goals/OKRs inside the Session.

Recover when cadence or Session state looks wrong

If a Session appears under the wrong parent, edit the Parent Session where you have permission or ask a Goals/OKRs admin to adjust it.

If Check-ins seem late, confirm the Session cadence, cadence day, timezone expectations, and the date of the last saved Check-in.

If the Session is missing, clear filters, check Sessions in progress, check archived Sessions, and confirm the workspace.

If you cannot edit cadence, check your permission and whether the Session is archived. Use Troubleshoot OKR permissions when the controls are missing or read-only.