okr methodology
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Objective and Key Results (OKR)

OKR Methodology

Benefits

The OKR methodology brings many benefits to the operation of the company. Among them:

  • Focus on specific objectives
  • Get the entire team working on the same line
  • Improve team member engagement
  • Transparency
  • Greater team responsibility

OKR focuses on objectives and key results. A aim is what you want to achieve, and a key result It is how you plan to measure the level of achievement of the objective.

The objectives are always qualitative. They are something the team or organization aims to achieve (and should not contain numbers!)

Key results are always quantitative. They will tell you if you have achieved your goal, so they must be measurable to avoid any doubt. Even the Yes/No key result is (really) numeric since the result is binary.

How many objectives?

A person or team should have a maximum of 3 objectives per period (for example a quarter).

A good way to start implementing the OKR methodology is to assign objectives per person. A single objective per person has been a fairly successful practice in companies that have implemented OKRs.

How many key results?

While there is no hard and fast rule on how many key results an objective should have, one should use common sense. In practice, objectives with 5 or more key results have been shown to be difficult to maintain. Well-defined OKRs typically have 3 key results

Basic rules

The main elements to take into account when defining the OKR process are:

  • Cadence: What is the defined period? It is common to use the quarter as a work unit.
  • Checkpoints: With what frequency do those responsible update the data. It is generally done once a week. Usually on Fridays
  • Maximum number of targets: Maximum number of objectives that a team or individual member has assigned. The usual practice is 3
  • Maximum number of key results: What is the maximum number of key results per objective. 5 is usually an acceptable number although the most common is 3. If an objective requires more than 5 key results, the usual practice is to divide this objective into more than one.
  • Review rhythm: How often does the team review progress?

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