OKRs in Simple Terms

Introduction

OKRs is a system of setting and tracking goals. The acronym stands for Objectives and Key Results, the two main components of OKRs. OKRs have been adopted by some of the world’s largest companies, including Google, Facebook, and Intel.

Objectives

Objectives are the goals you want to achieve. They should be specific, measurable, and time-bound (SMART). A good objective should be:

• Specific – What exactly do you want to achieve?
• Measurable – How will you measure your progress?
• Attainable – Is the goal realistic and attainable with the resources available?
• Relevant – Does this help move toward one of your company’s goals in a meaningful way?

Key Results

The first step to developing your own key results is to ask yourself the following questions:

• What do I want to achieve? This needs to be a quantifiable outcome that can be measured.
• How will I know when it’s been achieved? Again, this should be something you can measure easily.
• When do I need this by? Having an end date on each of your goals will help keep them all in check and working towards the same endgame.

Now, let’s look at some examples so you can see how these principles work in practice. A key result that is not quantifiable would be “have more fun at work”. That may sound like a good idea (and who doesn’t want more fun?), but how do we measure whether or not we’re having more fun than usual? If someone were telling me about their goal of having more fun in their job, my first question would probably be “how much fun are we talking about here?”

About OKRs

OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, are a management system created by Intel in the early 1990s. The idea behind OKRs is simple: It’s a framework for setting and tracking goals.

OKRs have been adopted by many companies, including Google, Amazon and Facebook. Some of these organizations make it mandatory to use OKRs for their employees to meet yearly performance targets.

Objectives are short and concise statements of what you want to achieve. Objectives are typically a single sentence or two at most.

An objective is a short and concise statement of what you want to achieve. Objectives should be specific, measurable, and time-bound. They are also challenging yet achievable.

Objectives should follow this structure:

• [What] – State your goal or objective in one or two sentences.
• [Why] – Explain why you want to complete the objective by explaining how it will help your team or organization achieve its goals (optional). This could include metrics that show how vital this objective is to achieve the overall goal of the company or organization.
• [By When] – Specify when you will accomplish this task (e.g., by March 1st) so employees know when they can expect results from their work on this project (optional).

Key Results describe the results your team or company will deliver to show that you have achieved your Objective. Objectives can have anywhere from two to four Key Results, but no more than five.

Key Results are measurable results that show you have achieved your objective. They are the things that you will do to achieve your objective.

Key Results should be measurable, so when the performance period is over, and it’s time for the team or company to evaluate their progress, they can assign a score based on how well they performed each Key Result.

A well-written Key Result should be quantifiable.

A well-written Key Result should be quantifiable so that you can assign a score to indicate how well you performed when you finish the performance period. Key Results can be metrics for progress toward an objective, such as the number of users or revenue targets. At times, the Key Result may need to set the direction, such as announcing a new strategy and potential new paths forward.

Key Results are measurable: They are stated in results-oriented language with specific numbers and targets. For example: “By March 2020, we will have doubled our monthly active customer base by acquiring 200 million customers globally.”

Key Results are quantifiable: They express goals in numbers (e.g., 200 million customers).

Key Result is specific: It defines what needs to be accomplished (e.g., increased monthly active customer base). It answers “What?” rather than focusing on “How?” which is not actionable or measurable (see Achievable vs Measurable). For example: “By March 2020, we will have doubled our monthly active customer base by acquiring 200 million customers globally.”

Key Result is time-bound: It identifies when it needs to happen (e.g., March 2020) so that the organization knows when it has succeeded or failed at achieving its goal(s). This helps ensure alignment across teams and departments because everyone knows when a particular goal must be achieved for success! It also ensures that everyone takes ownership for their part in making sure this happens on time; no one wants responsibility for anything missing deadlines because they didn’t pay attention during planning sessions where these things were discussed!

OKRs is an acronym for a system of setting and tracking goals.

OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, is a method of goal setting that helps you achieve results with your group. OKRs give you the tools to set goals and track progress toward them. It also helps you identify problems as they arise so that your team can work together to solve them.

Conclusion

We hope that you now understand what OKRs are and how they work. We hope you can see why they’re so effective at helping teams get things done.

Turn Business Goals into Results

If you’re looking for a way to make your business more successful, try setting up an OKR system. It’s easy to set up and use. And when done correctly, it can help your team be more productive and focused on what matters most.

If your teams struggle to align with strategy, connect them to business outcomes that matter and make your goal-setting process more transparent through OKRs.

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