Use Snapshots

Snapshots preserve the weekly progress story

Use Snapshot view when you need to review how Goals/OKRs looked for a selected week. A live Session keeps changing as owners add Key Results, create Initiatives, and make Check-ins. Snapshot view gives the team a time-based review surface so weekly progress, deltas, and Initiative context are easier to discuss.

Snapshots are most useful when owners follow the Session Check-in cadence. The Snapshot shows the state for a week. Check-ins explain why the state moved.

For the progress-update workflow, see Check in progress. For planning the update rhythm, see Manage Session cadence.

Availability and permissions

If Snapshot is missing or read-only, start with Troubleshoot OKR permissions.

Open Snapshot view

Open Goals/OKRs, then open the Session you want to review. Use the Session view controls to switch to Snapshot.

Snapshot has its own controls. The normal Session List controls, such as Session search or sorting, do not apply the same way because Snapshot is a review view for a selected period. Use the Snapshot month, week, owner, and export controls shown in the Snapshot view.

Choose the week

Snapshot review is week-based. Use the month and week controls to move through the Session history. The selected week determines which saved progress state you are reviewing.

The current week may allow updates or current-context review where your workspace supports it. Past weeks are treated as history. If a past week is marked read-only, that is expected: historical Snapshots should not quietly change after the review period passes.

If a week says there is no Snapshot saved, it usually means ALLO does not have saved Snapshot data for that period. Check another week, confirm the Session had activity during that period, and make sure you are in the right workspace.

Filter by owner

Use the owner filter when the review needs to focus on one person’s work or one responsibility area. Snapshot keeps team context around the filtered owner so reviewers can still understand how the selected work relates to the wider Session.

Use All when the team needs the full Session story. Use owner filtering when you are preparing a one-on-one review, reviewing a handoff, or checking whether a specific owner’s Key Results and Initiatives need attention.

If unassigned work appears, treat it as a review signal. Goals/OKRs without clear ownership are easy to ignore.

Read Objectives, Key Results, and Initiatives together

Snapshot review works best when you read the hierarchy as a whole.

Objectives explain the direction. Key Results show the measurable progress. Initiatives show the canvases connected to that progress. If a Key Result is at risk, look at the related Initiative canvas to understand whether the work is blocked, incomplete, or simply not moving the outcome yet.

Do not judge an Initiative only by activity. A busy Initiative canvas can still fail to move the Key Result. Use Check-ins to explain the gap.

Export Snapshot data

Where available, use the Snapshot export control to download the selected week's review data. Exports are useful for leadership updates, offline review, retrospectives, and audit questions. If the review needs a repeated team hub instead of a one-time file, use a dashboard.

Snapshot exports can include Objectives, Key Results, Initiatives, owner context, progress values, deltas, and metadata for the selected week. If an Initiative appears more than once in an export because it is connected to a detailed row, keep the selected week and Session context with the file so reviewers understand what they are reading.

Before sharing an export, check the audience. Goals/OKRs can include strategy, performance, customer, and staffing context.

Use Snapshots in review meetings

Before the review, ask owners to add Check-ins according to the Session cadence. During the review, open Snapshot for the selected week and focus on changes: which Key Results moved, which statuses changed, which Initiatives need attention, and which owners have unassigned or stale work.

After the review, use new Check-ins for follow-up context. Do not try to rewrite the meaning of a past Snapshot. If the live Session needs correction, correct the live Session and use a later Snapshot or export for the corrected review state.

Snapshot versus List, Tree, and detail views

Use List view when you need to scan or edit the current Session.

Use Tree view when you need to understand cascading Objectives and Key Results as a map.

Use a detail view when one Objective, Key Result, Initiative, or Check-in needs focused editing.

Use Snapshot when the review period matters. It is the place to ask, “What did this week look like?” rather than “What is the latest live state right now?”

Examples

For a weekly leadership review, open Snapshot after owners finish Check-ins. Filter to All for the full view, then filter by owner when a specific person’s work needs attention.

For a retrospective, compare Snapshots from the start, middle, and end of the Session. Look for Key Results that moved late, Initiatives that stayed active without impact, and Objectives that needed clearer ownership.

For a handoff, open the most recent Snapshot before ownership changes. The new owner can review the saved state and then continue with new Check-ins in the live Session.

Permission and visibility notes

Snapshot access follows Goals/OKRs and workspace permission. If Snapshot rows reference Initiative canvases, those canvases can still require separate access.

Archived Sessions may still be useful for historical review, but editing may be limited. Use Snapshot for history and the live Session for current updates.

If a Snapshot link opens but a connected Initiative canvas does not, fix the canvas permission rather than recreating the Initiative.

Common mistakes

Do not treat Snapshot as the live Session. It represents a selected week or review period.

Do not use Snapshot instead of Check-ins. Snapshot shows state; Check-ins explain movement.

Do not ignore a no-snapshot week. It may mean the team had no saved review state or no useful updates for that period.

Do not share exports without checking whether the audience should see the strategy and owner context inside them.

Recover when Snapshots look wrong

If Snapshot is empty, check the selected week, active workspace, Session, filters, and access.

If Snapshot appears stale, compare the selected week with the live Session. A past week should not necessarily match today’s progress.

If current progress is missing, confirm that the Check-in saved in the live Key Result before expecting it to appear in current review views.

If an export does not match what you saw, confirm the selected week, owner filter, and Session before exporting again.

If someone cannot open a Snapshot or Initiative canvas from a Snapshot, confirm their workspace membership, Goals/OKRs access, and canvas permission.