OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a collaborative goal-setting methodology used by teams and individuals to set ambitious and challenging goals with measurable results. It is a company's best ally in the search for progress, alignment, and participation around measurable objectives. Rick Klau explains that one way to evaluate a complete OKR is to average the scores of key results that pertain to an objective. The average of the key results only tells us how well we complete the key results for an objective, but it is entirely plausible that all the key results of the park can be eliminated, but the objective still cannot be moved. OKR measurement is the process by which specific success criteria for key outcomes are established or rated to create success thresholds for the goal.
For each goal, you should have a set of 2 to 5 key outcomes. More than that and no one will remember them. Key results are a set of metrics that measure your progress toward the goal. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are used to track business metrics that reflect performance. Every key result must be something that the person, team, department, or company performing the OKR can work directly on.
The OKR engine room is conversations and debates about what your goal should be, what you should measure and what “good” and “incredible” would look like. Weekdone is your solution for reporting status, aligning team OKRs with company-level objectives, and visualizing your weekly and quarterly progress. The best OKR software is the one that allows you to clearly configure and manage objectives and key results, and create an alignment around those measurable objectives. There are many aspects of Key Objectives and Outcomes (OKR), and goal setting in general, which are the main reasons why the framework works so well. OKRs become interesting, especially in an agile work environment, by how much you decide to obtain each key result, how you define success and how you measure the progress of OKRs.
If your key results can't be measured exactly in numbers, but your goals are more focused on the date, such as “printing the new issue of the magazine by *date*” or “hiring a new IT analyst before *date*”, the KRS score will most likely hit the 1.0 mark quite often. By reviewing their objectives and key results every 3 months, teams have 4 opportunities a year to respond to changes in the real world. At the beginning of the quarter, you will not only evaluate the possibility of achieving your goal based on key results, but you will also plan your OKRs. A company goal should be a high-level area of improvement in which several teams can contribute through their daily work and long-term projects. In reality, the vast majority of the key results I've read, in hundreds of OKRs from various sources, describe how to achieve the goal, rather than knowing how the goal was achieved. In addition to objectives and their key results, employees should consider recurring activities that will help them move closer to their achievements.
OKRs are designed for teams and organizations to facilitate growth, improvement and alignment, while MBO (Management by Objectives) helps you track employee performance. The way in which success is measured and the level of ambition you dare to be is defined in the Key Results and its measures and outcome. By understanding these aspects of OKRs, teams can better understand how they can use this framework to achieve their goals.
