---
title: Structure OKRs with qualitative objectives and quantitative outcome-focused key results
category: metrics
impact: HIGH
impactDescription: "Ensures proper OKR structure with qualitative objectives and quantitative, outcome-focused key results"
tags: okr, objectives, key-results, goal-setting, alignment
---

# OKR Framework

Objectives and Key Results align teams around ambitious goals with measurable outcomes.

## OKR Structure

```
Objective: Qualitative, inspiring goal
+-- Key Result 1: Quantitative measure of progress
+-- Key Result 2: Quantitative measure of progress
+-- Key Result 3: Quantitative measure of progress
```

## Writing Good Objectives

| Characteristic | Good | Bad |
|---------------|------|-----|
| Qualitative | "Delight enterprise customers" | "Increase NPS to 50" |
| Inspiring | "Become the go-to platform" | "Ship 10 features" |
| Time-bound | Implied quarterly | Vague timeline |
| Ambitious | Stretch goal (70% achievable) | Sandbagged (100% easy) |

## Writing Good Key Results

| Characteristic | Good | Bad |
|---------------|------|-----|
| Quantitative | "Reduce churn from 8% to 4%" | "Improve retention" |
| Measurable | "Ship to 10,000 beta users" | "Launch beta" |
| Outcome-focused | "Increase conversion by 20%" | "Add 5 features" |
| Leading indicators | "Weekly active users reach 50K" | "Revenue hits $1M" (lagging) |

## Key Result Formula

```
[Verb] [metric] from [baseline] to [target] by [deadline]

Examples:
- Increase NPS from 32 to 50
- Reduce time-to-value from 14 days to 3 days
- Achieve 95% feature adoption in first 30 days
```

## OKR Example

```markdown
## Q1 OKRs

### Objective 1: Become the #1 choice for enterprise teams

**Key Results:**
- KR1: Increase enterprise NPS from 32 to 50
- KR2: Reduce time-to-value from 14 days to 3 days
- KR3: Achieve 95% feature adoption in first 30 days
- KR4: Win 5 competitive displacements from [Competitor]

### Objective 2: Build a world-class engineering culture

**Key Results:**
- KR1: Reduce deploy-to-production time from 4 hours to 15 minutes
- KR2: Achieve 90% code coverage on critical paths
- KR3: Zero P0 incidents lasting longer than 30 minutes
- KR4: Engineering satisfaction score reaches 4.5/5
```

## Alignment Cascade

```
Company OKRs
    |
    v
Department OKRs (aligns to company)
    |
    v
Team OKRs (aligns to department)
    |
    v
Individual OKRs (optional, aligns to team)
```

## Best Practices

- **OKRs for goals, KPIs for health**: Use together, not interchangeably
- **Leading indicator focus**: Key Results should be leading indicators
- **Cascade with autonomy**: Align outcomes, let teams choose their path
- **Regular calibration**: Weekly check-ins on leading, monthly on lagging
- **3-5 objectives max** per team per quarter
- **3-5 KRs per objective**: Enough to measure, not too many to track

## Common Pitfalls

| Pitfall | Mitigation |
|---------|------------|
| Vanity metrics | Focus on metrics that drive decisions |
| Too many KPIs | Limit to 5-7 per team |
| Gaming metrics | Pair metrics that balance each other |
| Static goals | Review and adjust quarterly |
| No baselines | Establish current state before setting targets |

**Incorrect — Outputs instead of outcomes:**
```markdown
Objective: Build a great product

Key Results:
- Ship 10 features
- Write 50 unit tests
- Hold 20 customer interviews
```

**Correct — Outcome-focused key results:**
```markdown
Objective: Become the #1 choice for enterprise teams

Key Results:
- Increase enterprise NPS from 32 to 50
- Reduce time-to-value from 14 days to 3 days
- Achieve 95% feature adoption in first 30 days
```
