Goal health
Plenar continuously checks whether each goal will hit its target date and flags the ones that won’t. This guide explains how goal health is computed and what to do when a goal falls behind. For how to structure goals and set their priorities in the first place, see Goals and milestones.
How a goal’s ETA is computed
A goal’s ETA is the latest scheduled end date among the tasks that contribute to it. If a goal has three tasks ending May 5, May 12, and May 18, the goal’s ETA is May 18. It updates automatically whenever the schedule changes — when estimates change, dependencies shift, someone takes time off, or a task is completed.
What the health states mean
Plenar compares the ETA against the target date and shows a health state on every goal and milestone:
| State | When it shows |
|---|---|
| On Track | The ETA is on or before the target date |
| Off Track | The ETA is past the target date |
| At Risk | A contributing task is blocked |
| In Progress | Work has started, no target date set |
| Not Started | No work started yet |
| Done | All contributing work is done |
A goal without a target date is never Off Track — there’s no date to miss. Its ETA is still computed and shown for reference.
When a goal is At Risk
A goal shows At Risk when one of its contributing tasks is blocked. A blocked task can’t progress, so the goal’s ETA can’t be trusted until the blocker clears — Plenar flags the goal rather than reporting a confident on- or off-track date. Clear the blocker (or move the work to an unblocked task) and the goal returns to On Track or Off Track based on its recomputed ETA.
What pushes a goal off track
Common causes:
- Estimate increase — a task takes longer than planned, pushing the ETA later.
- New dependency — a task now waits on another, lengthening the chain.
- Time off — reduced capacity stretches task durations across more calendar days.
- New tasks — more work under the goal means a later finish.
- Blocked task — a blocked task stalls everything downstream of it.
- Lost capacity — removing a team member leaves the remaining work taking longer.
Each of these surfaces as a warning when it threatens a target date.
How to recover a slipping goal
When a goal is Off Track, your options run from fastest to most disruptive:
- Cut scope. Move Nice tasks out of the goal or drop them. Fastest, lowest-risk. (“Remove the Nice tasks from Platform Foundation.”)
- Reduce estimates — but only where the original estimate genuinely overstated the work. (“Change Build event ingestion API from 8 days to 5.”)
- Add capacity. Add another team member, then run a fresh recompute so Plenar redistributes work to include them.
- Remove an unnecessary dependency. If a sequencing dependency isn’t strictly required, dropping it lets Plenar run more work in parallel. (“Remove the dependency between Design auth database schema and Build event ingestion API.”)
- Extend the target date. If the date has give, push it out — this doesn’t change the schedule, it changes what counts as on time.
- Reassign from scratch. Ask Plenar to recompute and reassign all auto-assigned tasks fresh; it may find a better distribution.
For the full catalog of schedule warnings and their fixes, see Warnings and conflicts.
Where to see goal health
In the dashboard: every goal shows its state in the sidebar, in the Summary view (with ETA-vs-target comparison and trend charts), and in the detail panel when you click a goal.
From Claude Code: ask “Are any goals off track?” or “What’s the schedule health?” — the agent calls plenar_get_schedule_status and reports each goal’s health with context.
Watch the trend over time: a goal that stays On Track but with shrinking margin often needs a nudge before it actually slips. Catching a trend early beats recovering from a large overrun.
Common questions
What’s the difference between At Risk and Off Track? Off Track means the ETA is past the target date. At Risk means a contributing task is blocked, so the ETA can’t be trusted until the blocker clears.
Why is my goal still Off Track after I cut scope? Removing Nice tasks only helps if they were on the goal’s critical path. If the late finish comes from a Must task or a dependency chain, address that instead.
Does a goal with no target date have health? It shows progress (In Progress, Not Started, Completed) but never On Track or Off Track — there’s no date to compare the ETA against.
What to do next
- Goals and milestones — structure goals and set the priorities that drive recovery.
- Handle changes — the playbook for reacting when a goal slips.
- Warnings and conflicts — every warning Plenar raises and how to clear it.
- Manage your schedule — apply recovery changes through the preview.