Objectives and Key Results (OKR)

A framework for defining and tracking objectives and their outcomes.

Simple and effective.

“The key result has to be measurable. But at the end you can look, and without any arguments: Did I do that or did I not do it? Yes? No? Simple. No judgments in it.”

Larry Page, the CEO of Alphabet and co-founder of Google: “OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth, many times over. They’ve kept me and the rest of the company on time and on track when it mattered the most.” Since becoming popular at Google, OKRs have found favor with other organizations including LinkedIn, Twitter, and Uber.

OKR’s Goal Formula

I will ________ as measured by ____________.

A proper goal has to describe both what you will achieve and how you are going to measure its achievement.

• The key words here are “as measured by,” since measurement is what makes a goal a goal.
• Without it, you do not have a goal, all you have is a desire.

So, as the name implies, OKR has two components, the Objective and the Key Results:

1. Objectives are memorable qualitative descriptions of what you want to achieve. Objectives should be short, inspirational and engaging. An Objective should motivate and challenge the team
2. Key Results are a set of metrics that measure your progress towards the Objective. For each Objective, you should have a set of 2 to 5 Key Results. More than that and no one will remember them.  All Key Results have to be quantitative and measurable.

Example:

Objective:          Implement Growth Plans with all employees (30) this quarter

Key Results:

1. 1. Oct        6 Growth Plans (Implementation & Learning Curve)
      • 1 each = week one and two
      • 2 each = week three and four
   2. Nov       12 Growth Plans
      • 4 per week = week one – three
      • None Thanksgiving week
   3. Dec        12 Growth Plans
      • 4 per week = week one – three
      • None Christmas week

Set your OKRs for Q4 2019!

 

Onward and Upward,

 

Steve