What is OKR?

OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. OKR is a framework for defining and tracking objectives and their outcomes. OKR helps to align teams and then enables those teams to focus on what matters most for the organization. Goal setting increases team autonomy, employee engagement, and offers many benefits. Google, Linkedin, Mercedes-Benz, Adidas, Facebook, and Amazon use OKR.

The OKR framework aims to define company and team "objectives" along with linked and measurable "key results" to provide "a critical thinking framework and ongoing discipline that seeks to ensure employees work together, focusing their efforts to make measurable contributions.

What is an Objective?

An objective is a concise statement outlining a broad qualitative goal designed to propel the organization forward in a desired direction. Basically, it asks, “What do we want to do?” A well-worded objective is time-bound (doable in a quarter) and should inspire and capture the shared imagination of your team.

OKR example: Drive better attendance at our annual user conference to boost the member experience.

What is a Key Result?

A key result is a quantitative statement that measures the achievement of a given objective. If the objective asks, “What do we want to do?” the key result asks, “How will we know if we’ve met our objective?”

For the objective above (Drive better attendance at our annual user conference to boost the member experience) a key result could be: Increase the number of attendees from 350 to 600.

Benefits of OKR

  • Align and connect your employees to your corporate goals. 

  • Give clear direction to every team and individual.

  • Increase productivity through focus on goals.

  • Track regular progress towards goals.

  • Make more effective and informed decisions.

  • Achieve measurement, accountability, and transparency.

HISTORY OF OKR

  • 1954 — Peter Drucker introduced OKR to MBO.

  • The 1970s — Andy Grove improved MBO and introduced OKR while being CEO at Intel.

  • 1999 — John Doerr introduced OKR to Google.

  • 2010 — Linkedin, Mercedes-Benz, Facebook, Amazon and many other companies have adopted OKR.