All you need is OKR

One team story

Note: I decided to test the OKR framework inside my team because I could see that there are definitely some merits that can improve my team's performance and bring great results!

Ensuring that everyone on my team is working together toward a shared goal is a top priority for me. I believe in ensuring that we all comprehend what we're doing, why we're doing it, and where we aim to reach. That's why I implemented OKRs within my team, and I'd like to share my experience with you.

OKR framework looks pretty simple:

• Objectives: where do I need to go?
• Key results: how do I know that I’m getting there?
• Initiatives: What will I do to get there??

1. My mission is detected (what is your mission in the company)?

I think you cannot plan the company's goals if your own is unclear to you. Before setting big goals for my team, I wanted to outline mine. I took some time to process and understand my place in the company. I wanted to set out where I am now, what impact I have on business, and what I want to reach within the whole company and my team.

2. Design your team mission

After I had done with my mission, I moved to my team mission. Before taking further steps, I needed to find out what role my team played in the company and what impact it had on the business. Once the mission is clear, you can start setting the goals.?

3. Brainstorming?

As a product manager, I have to encourage an open and collaborative environment to ensure everyone feels heard, so after writing down several goals, I engaged my team in a discussion where each could share ideas and suggestions. The main point was to choose 2 or 3 goals and chart the process of achieving them. Choosing the right direction is a collaborative process, and you can’t do it on your own, because you have to see how members of your team understand their personal roles in the company, mission, and which goals they take as priority ones.?

4. Goals and deadlines?

A goal without a deadline is like a Christmas without gingerbread. Deadlines help to stay focused and committed to achieving the goal by a certain date. It is a great motivation. And it keeps your team and you focused. However, while deadlines are useful, it's also crucial to set realistic deadlines that consider the complexity of the goal and your available resources. Unrealistic deadlines can create stress and lead to burnout, so finding a balance between ambition and feasibility is essential. My team and I have chosen 3 goals, and we set a year deadline to achieve them. According to OKR, you can take 1–2 years as a deadline.?

5. Measures?

Measuring your goals is crucial as it provides clarity, tracks progress, ensures accountability, helps in decision-making, identifies what works, and keeps you and your team motivated throughout the journey.?During the discussion process, we outlined KPIs. It had to help us to see how close are we getting to the goals.

5. Final check?

When all of us were aligned on the same decisions, I documented what we agreed on. I created a page in Notion where I road-mapped the mission and goals. Each goal was pointed as a point B and the way to get there was converted into steps that we needed to take to achieve the goal. Steps == tasks and tasks could be changed somehow on the way. Also, I road-mapped deadlines and KPIs that had to help us measure our success.?

Results

I divided our goals into quarters, which meant that every 3 months I wanted to see the result. At the same time, I didn't expect that by the end of the OKR journey, everything would be perfectly done and completed. Having at least 0.6–0.8 on the scale is already a great success indeed. Why? Imagine, that you work in a company with excellent financial forecasting. The scale between 97 and 102 percent of budget completion looks good, right? So, if we complete it on 100%, this is exactly around 0.6.?

My team and I are still on the OKR journey, but I can already see a good impact on my team and the results, and here I’m talking not only about the improvements in team performance.?

Let’s summarize some of the points:

• The goal statement must be qualitative and not quantitative. No numbers! Numbers are just for pointing the direction of the way, but you need the length.?
• The goal should be neat and clear for all the team.?
• You should see the progress. Don’t try to fit 2 year's goal in one year. That’s not going to work.?
• Don’t take too many goals. One-free will be enough.?
• And of course, don’t forget to follow the metrics and analyse the reasons for success and failure