The Basics of OKRs

Introduction to Objectives and Key Results

Weekdone OKR Software:weekdone.com

Jüri Kaljundi

CEO & Co-founder

OKRs are your daily poster on the wall:

What should I do next?

What should I focus on?

How far am I?

It’s said:

“If there is one leadership and team management process anyone should try,

it’s OKRs”

Used by: Google, LinkedIn, Sears, Twitter, Yahoo and thousands of others.

So should you.

What is OKR methodology?

• Set quarterly goals – Objectives

• Measure metrics progress – Key Results

• Share it with leaders & co-workers

• One direction everyone works towards

• Aligned & linked hierarchy

Company > Department > Team > Personal

• Transparency and open clearly communicated teamwork

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Importance of shared goal-setting via OKRs

• Vision of where you want to get

• Prioritization of how to get there

• Know what's expected of you

• Guide people towards right path

• Daily focus on most important goals

• Freedom inside your own sandbox

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Example Company or Sales OKR

• Increase Q2 recurring revenues

– Increase average subscription size to at least $295 per month

– Increase the share of recurring subscriptions vs one-time deals to 85%

– Up-sell to 100 existing customers

– Reduce churn to less than 1% monthly

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OKR key points

• 3-5 Objectives you strive for

– Where you want to get

• 3-5 Key Results to be achieved under each Objective

– Metrics, to see if you’re getting there

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Why limit amount of goals and metrics?

• 3 O x 3 KR = 9

• 4 O x 4 KR = 16

• 5 O x 5 KR = 25

People can remember and focus on 9 things, but not 25 or more

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Differences compared to other methods

• Two-level grouping: – One O has multiple KRs

• Everything is measurable

• Limited amount of goals to focus

• Linked from company to team to person

• All public across the company

• Goals are difficult, but not impossible

• Often not tied to salary & bonuses

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Objectives: your goals. The “What?”

• Aspirational

• Challenging

• Qualitative

• Time bound

• Unambiguous

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Key Results: evaluation of achievement. The “How?”

• Measurable & Quantifiable

• Objectively gradable

• Achievable

• Usually numerical

• Actionable

• Tangible

• Outcome related

Did we meet the Objective?

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Key Result types

• 0-100% progress

• Any % value or x% to y% change

• Euros, dollars

• Items, units, articles, people

• 1-5 or 1-10 grade rating

• Milestones, stages, project phases

• Deliverables, tasks, outcomes

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Roof-shots

• Definitely achievable and easier

• Practical regular activities

• “Business as usual”

• Still pushing to be better

Need to hit 100%

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Moonshots

• Stretch goals

• Ambitious bold goal you might reach

• Failure and risk-taking is an option

• Challenging & uneasy

• Push people to achieve more

Even 60-80% progress or 2/3 is good

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Keys to make OKRs a success

• Less is more: max 3-5 Os and KRs

• Evaluate and mark progress weekly

– Comment on milestones

• Say no to non-OKR activities

• Think big, set goals that matter a lot

• Reflect each week and at the end of Q how far you are

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Common mistakes

• Over 5 Os or KRs

• Listing too small unimportant tasks

• KRs not measurable, not numeric

• Not understandable to co-workers

• Continuous ongoing Q-to-Q goals have no growth

• Not challenging enough

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Usual schedule

• Overlapping last Q review + new Q definition

• 1-2 weeks before and after Q ends/starts

• Mid-quarter review at 45 days

– Or monthly each 30 days

– Ideally on all company levels

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Hierarchy of OKRs and linking

• Top-down and bottom-up - both OK

• Usually start from Company level

• OK to do 1 or 2 levels only at first

• Lower level O becomes higher level KR

• Link weekly tasks to Objectives

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Examples of bad KRs

• Keep working on product roadmap

• Talk to customers about our products

• Make sure our employees are happy

• Keep working on new website

• Assure onboarding is done well

• Continue the CRM project

• Support our sales team

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Try out Weekdone OKR software

Sign up for free at

Weekdone.com

Browse the OKR Examples Database

http://okrexamples.co/

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Helpful OKR resources

Free OKR Guide E-book

https://weekdone.com/ebook/okr-goal-setting-guide-template/

Employee Guide to Getting Started with OKRs

https://blog.weekdone.com/employee-guide-getting-started-okrs/

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Example Company or HR OKR

• Improve internal employee engagement

– Reach weekly employee satisfaction score of at least 4.7 points

– Conduct 3 monthly “Fun Friday” all-hands meetings with an external motivational speaker

– Start using OKR’s in all 10 teams and 5 departments

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Example Marketing OKR

• Successfully implement the weekly newsletter

– Grow subscriber base at least 5% per week

– Increase the CTR% to above industry average of 3.5%

– Finalize the content strategy, key messages and topic structure for next 6 months

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Example Marketing OKR

• Activate user-testing

– Conduct at least 4 face to face testing sessions per month

– Receive at least 15 video interviews from Usertesting.com

– Make sure at least 80% of people interviewed are from core target group (Directors, VP’s, CEO’s, Division Managers) not random friends

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Example CFO or Finance OKR

• Improve annual budgeting and business planning

– Receive business line budget proposals before Sept 1st

– Conduct a daily planning session with each division manager before their proposals

– Have each business line manager start using our online dashboards

– Close the final budget by November 30th

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Example Product Manager OKR

• Implement new 360-degree product planning process

– Divide exact clear roles between sales, marketing, design and development

– Integrate user testing into planning phase

– Integrate user testing into testing phase

– Decide on input methods from design and development back into product management

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Got questions?Feel free to get in touch with me:

Jüri Kaljundi

CEO & Co-founder, Weekdone

E-mail: jk@weekdone.com

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