OKRs

What It Means

OKRs, short for Objectives and Key Results, are a goal-setting method used by people, teams and whole companies. The objective says what you want to achieve, in plain words. Its key results, usually a handful, say how you'll know you got there, and each has to be measurable, so that at the end nobody can argue about whether it happened. OKRs are typically set and scored each quarter.

How People Say It

• "What are our OKRs for Q3?"
• "That's a nice project, but which key result does it move?"
• "We landed at 0.6, which is about right."

The Breakdown

How to write and score OKRs

1. Write one objective: what you want to achieve this quarter, in a sentence anyone on the team understands.
2. Add a few key results under it. Each needs a number or a clear yes or no, so there's no arguing about it at the end.
3. Share them where the whole team can see them, so the work lines up.
4. Check progress through the quarter, since each key result is measurable.
5. At the end of the quarter, grade each key result from 0.0 to 1.0, the scale Google's re:Work guide describes, and average them.
6. Talk about what the grades mean, then write the next quarter's OKRs.

A worked example (Buhata's own)

If Saturday orders reach 185, key result 1 grades 0.5, since the bakery covered 35 of the 70 extra orders. A yes-or-no result like launching pre-orders grades 1 or 0, as in re:Work's own example.

Where It Comes From

Andy Grove developed the method at Intel and taught it to John Doerr, according to Doerr's site What Matters. Doerr introduced OKRs to Google's founders in 1999 and later wrote the book Measure What Matters about the approach. What Matters describes OKRs as a break from the older management by objectives (MBO): they run quarterly rather than yearly and are kept separate from pay.

Good to Know

A score of 1.0 on every OKR isn't the target. Google's re:Work guide expects an average of about 0.6 to 0.7 across all OKRs, since goals set there are meant to stretch, and it stresses being honest and consistent when grading. What Matters notes that OKRs are kept apart from compensation, which lets people set ambitious goals without risking their pay. Next to KPIsKey performance indicator (KPI)A measurable number a team tracks against a target and a deadline because it shows progress on something critical to the organization's goals. See more, which the published key performance indicator page describes as tracked continuously on a dashboard, OKRs are the goals scored at the end of each quarter.

Related Terms and Categories

• Key performance indicator (KPI)

  A measurable number a team tracks against a target and a deadline because it shows progress on something critical to the organization's goals.

• SMART goals

  Goals written to pass five tests: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, an idea first published by George T. Doran in 1981.

• Weekly review

  A regular session, usually weekly, where you clear your inboxes, bring your lists and calendar up to date and decide what matters next.

Productivity methods and focus