Okr framework

OKR Framework

OKR Fundamentals

Objective: Qualitative, inspirational, memorable direction. Answers "where are we going?" Key Result: Quantitative, measurable outcome. Answers "how will we know we got there?" Initiative: The work we do to achieve Key Results (not part of OKRs themselves)

Objective: Make our customers wildly successful
  KR1: Increase 90-day retention from 45% to 65%
  KR2: Achieve NPS of 50+ (from current 32)
  KR3: 80% of customers complete onboarding within 7 days (from 40%)

Writing Strong Objectives

Objective Checklist

• Qualitative — no numbers in the objective itself
• Ambitious but achievable (60-70% confidence)
• Directional — could fail if ignored
• Memorable — team can recite it
• Actionable — team can influence it
• Time-boxed — for this quarter/year

Good vs Bad Objectives

BAD: Improve the product
GOOD: Build the most intuitive onboarding experience in our category

BAD: Grow revenue Q3
GOOD: Establish product-led growth as our primary acquisition engine

BAD: Fix technical debt
GOOD: Build a foundation our engineering team is proud to ship on

Objective Formulas

• "Become the [superlative] [thing] for [who]"
• "Establish [capability] as [strategic differentiator]"
• "Delight [persona] by [meaningful outcome]"
• "[Verb] [meaningful change] in [area]"

Writing Strong Key Results

KR Rules

• Always a number (% change, absolute target, ratio)
• Measures outcome, not output ("increase retention" not "ship 5 features")
• Baseline included in writing ("from X to Y")
• 3-5 KRs per objective
• Independent — achieving one doesn't auto-achieve another

KR Formulas

Increase [metric] from [baseline] to [target]
Decrease [metric] from [baseline] to [target]
Achieve [metric] by [date]
Maintain [metric] above [threshold]
Reach [milestone] (binary KR — use sparingly)

Good vs Bad Key Results

BAD: Launch new dashboard (output)
GOOD: Increase feature adoption of analytics from 20% to 45% of MAU

BAD: Improve performance
GOOD: Reduce p95 API response time from 800ms to 200ms

BAD: Get more customers
GOOD: Increase trial-to-paid conversion from 12% to 20%

BAD: Be more international
GOOD: Generate $500K ARR from EU customers (from $150K baseline)

OKR Hierarchy & Alignment

Company OKRs (Annual + Quarterly)
│
├── Product OKRs (Quarterly) — aligned to Company OKRs
│   ├── PM Team OKRs — aligned to Product OKRs
│   └── Engineering Team OKRs — aligned to Product OKRs
│
├── Growth OKRs (Quarterly) — aligned to Company OKRs
└── Customer Success OKRs (Quarterly) — aligned to Company OKRs

Alignment Check

For each team OKR, verify:

• Which company OKR does this ladder up to?
• If this KR is achieved, does it meaningfully move the parent KR?
• Are there KRs with no company alignment? (discuss: sandbox vs distraction)

OKR Cadence

Annual OKRs

• Set in November/December for following year
• 3-4 company objectives maximum
• Inspirational, 12-month horizon
• Reviewed quarterly, adjusted if major strategic shift

Quarterly OKRs

Week 1-2 of previous quarter: Inputs
  - Previous quarter retrospective
  - Company/leadership priorities input
  - Data review (what moved? what didn't?)
  - Team capacity planning

Week 3 of previous quarter: Drafts
  - Teams draft OKRs bottom-up
  - PM reviews for alignment and ambition
  - Cross-team dependencies flagged

Week 4 of previous quarter: Finalize
  - Leadership review
  - Conflicts resolved
  - Final OKRs published by Day 1 of new quarter

Ongoing: Weekly/Bi-weekly check-ins
  - Confidence updates (not score updates — score at end)
  - Blockers surfaced
  - Initiatives adjusted based on what's working

OKR Scoring

Standard Scoring (0.0 – 1.0)

1.0 = 100% of target achieved
0.7 = 70% of target achieved (Google's "sweet spot" — stretch achieved)
0.4 = 40% of target achieved (below expectations)
0.0 = 0% (no progress)

Scoring Philosophy

• Target score: 0.6-0.7 (not 1.0 — 1.0 means goal wasn't ambitious enough)
• 0.0-0.3: What blocked us? What did we learn?
• 0.4-0.6: Solid progress, missed stretch
• 0.7-1.0: Goal achieved; was it ambitious enough?

• 1.0: Set a higher goal next quarter

End-of-Quarter OKR Review Template

## [Objective] — Score: [X.X]

### Key Results
| KR | Baseline | Target | Actual | Score |
|----|----------|--------|--------|-------|
| KR1 | 45% | 65% | 58% | 0.65 |
| KR2 | 32 | 50 | 41 | 0.45 |
| KR3 | 40% | 80% | 72% | 0.80 |

**Objective Score**: 0.63 (average of KRs)

### What Went Well
- [Specific win]
- [Specific win]

### What Didn't Work
- [Specific failure + root cause]

### What We Learned
- [Insight to inform next quarter]

### Carry Forward?
- [ ] Yes — same OKR with adjusted baseline
- [ ] No — achieved / deprioritized
- [ ] Modified — [describe change]

OKR Check-In Template (Weekly/Bi-weekly)

## Check-in: [Team] — Week [N]

| KR | Last Week | This Week | Confidence | Blockers |
|----|-----------|-----------|------------|---------|
| KR1 | 48% | 52% | 🟡 Medium | Need data infra fix |
| KR2 | 35 | 38 | 🟢 High | — |
| KR3 | 55% | 62% | 🟡 Medium | Eng bandwidth |

**Confidence Legend**: 🟢 On track | 🟡 At risk | 🔴 Off track

### This Week's Focus
- [Top 1-2 initiatives driving KRs]

### Help Needed
- [Cross-team dependency or blocker]

Common OKR Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Too many OKRs (>5 objectives)	Limit to 3-4 objectives per level
Output KRs ("launch X feature")	Rewrite as outcomes ("increase metric Y")
100% confidence in KRs	Make them more ambitious (target 60-70%)
OKRs disconnected from daily work	Map initiatives to KRs explicitly
Set-and-forget (no check-ins)	Weekly or bi-weekly confidence updates
Individual OKRs only	Balance team OKRs with individual
Copying last quarter's OKRs	Reflect on what changed and what's next