How to Write OKRs for Your Team

What a good OKR actually looks like

An OKR has two parts. The objective is qualitative: it says where you are going and why it matters. It should be ambitious enough to feel slightly uncomfortable, directional rather than operational, and written in plain language anyone on the team could repeat from memory. A useful test - if someone outside your team read it with no context, would they understand the direction? If not, rewrite it.

The key results are the measurable evidence that you reached the objective. Each one answers the question: how will we know we got there? For a deeper comparison of OKRs against other goal frameworks, the OKRs vs SMART Goals article covers the trade-offs well.

Most teams do best with two to three objectives per quarter and two to four key results per objective. More than that and prioritisation falls apart. If you find yourself writing six objectives, you are not setting direction - you are describing everything you were already going to do anyway.

The most common OKR mistakes

Writing OKRs well is a skill that takes a few cycles to develop. Most teams make the same mistakes early on. Recognising them is the fastest way to skip the bad cycles.

The task-versus-outcome mistake is the most damaging because it feels like progress. You can tick off every task and still not have achieved the objective. Key results should answer the question: “if we hit this number, are we genuinely closer to the objective?” If the honest answer is “maybe”, the key result is measuring the wrong thing.

How to run your OKR-setting session

The best OKRs come from a blend of top-down context and bottom-up input. Your job is to give the team the strategic direction - what the organisation needs this quarter - and then invite them to shape the objectives and metrics that will get you there. OKRs imposed without team involvement rarely stick. People commit to what they helped create.

After writing the key results, run the final test together: “If we hit every key result, would we be confident the objective was achieved?” If the answer is no, the key results are measuring the wrong things. Adjust before you commit, not halfway through the quarter.

This session works well at the start of each quarter or as part of annual planning. Keep it time-boxed, come with a clear strategic brief, and do not let it turn into a two-hour debate. The first draft does not have to be perfect - it just needs to be honest and specific enough to track.

Tracking OKRs through the quarter

Writing OKRs is the easy part. The discipline is in the review rhythm. Without a regular check-in, OKRs become a document people wrote in January and glance at in December. As explored in Why Targets Matter, visible goals drive behaviour in a way that invisible ones never can.

A fortnightly check-in is usually enough. Each key result owner updates the status, flags anything at risk, and names one action to move it forward. Use three signals: on track, at risk, and off track. “At risk” is the most important. It means you still have time to act. Off track without an earlier at-risk signal means the review rhythm broke down.

Mid-quarter changes are sometimes right. If circumstances shift materially - a major product pivot, a significant customer change, a strategic decision that invalidates a key result - it is better to adapt than to keep tracking something that no longer matters. But do not change OKRs to avoid honest scoring. The end-of-quarter retrospective is where you learn, and that learning only happens if the numbers were real.

The Targets feature in Manager Toolkit lets you track OKRs and development goals in one place, connected to your catchups and meeting notes. You can set progress targets, update status, and see everything against the people doing the work - removing the spreadsheet in the middle and keeping objectives visible to the people responsible for them.