Key Results: Examples and Tips | OKRs Explained

Key Takeaways

let's rate key results that put you on track to achieving your objectives just like objectives the language you use matters the way you phrase things influences how your team executes for example which of these two key results do you think will have more impact on your team's performance the first identify all bottlenecks in the review pipeline or the second reduce review time to under five minutes well both of them mean removing bottlenecks but in the second one the impact we're after is much clearer here are the criteria for a great set of key results key results are specific and time bound they'll say we'll get exactly this far in this amount of time key results are aggressive yet realistic they have the appropriate amount of stretch built into them most of all they're measurable and verifiable key results are not subjective at the end of a cycle you'll know whether or not they've been met so if you want a product to be better specify how much better choose something you can measure and that anyone on the team can verify here's a more detailed example let's say the objective is to run a 10K in under 50 minutes and to do it within the next 3 months we're going to have to measure a few things how often we get out to train how far we're running and how fast we're running too that leads us to these three key results one go for a run at least 30 minutes three times per week two increase the distance of the Run by One Mile each week and third increase the speed by 5 seconds per mile each week with the ultimate goal of a sub 8 minute mile together those three key results gets us to our objective of running that 10K in under 50 minutes within 3 months let's go back and look more closely at the first KR go for a run at least 30 minutes a week three times a week is it specific and time bound yes there's no doubt about how often we're supposed to run and we'll know we'll be running three times a week for the next three months is it aggressive yet realistic well considering I'm only running once a week now upping it to three times a week seems like a realistic stretch sure I could have been super ambitious and set the KR to make myself run seven days a week but honestly just isn't realistic is it measurable and verifiable absolutely after each run we can tick off the calendar and mark the time you ran and it'll be very clear either I did it or I didn't notice how all of these key results add up to the objective if we could still run a 10K under time without meeting all of these key results well that means we've picked some KRS that aren't important enough on the other hand if we achieve all of our key results and we still aren't able to run the 10K under that 50 minutes it means that we're either missing an essential key result or the ones that we set weren't ambitious enough some of the best key results have common characteristics let's look at an actual set of key results from the apparel company Al Birds they set an objective to design shoes with the lowest carbon footprint in their industry how' they get there with these four key results the first one is to ensure that their supply chain and shipping infrastructure are 100% zero waste their second KR is to pay 100% of the carbon offset for the calculated carbon dioxide emissions their third is to make 25% of the materials compostable and KR number four is to make 75% of the materials biodegradable these four KRS Define how they'll have the lowest carbon footprint in their industry and all four need to be true to get there great key results capture achievement they have a clear end result take that first KR for example ensure that our supply chain and shipping infrastructure are 100% zero waste with some effort that's a very measurable thing the company needs to eliminate all waste and they won't succeed until they hit that 100% getting to zero waste won't happen in one go it'll require an iterative process by all Bird's design manufacturing and distribution teams at the same time those team teams will work on reducing their carbon emissions and to address any emissions Gap their second KR is to purchase carbon offsets to help them meet the objective of creating the lowest carbon footprint in their industry once they're set great key results also communicate progress you can measure how far you are from meeting the objective at any point if all birds improved from 10% of materials being composted to 20 that's clear progress but they know they still need to get to 25% to satisfy their third key result now the team has something to track and an action plan to create that's why great key results act as an early warning signal when things aren't working quite right through tracking their key results a team can tell if an effort is stalled or falling short and if that's the case their KRS can trigger an adjustment to their approach if Alberts had made a serious effort to meet their fourth KR and make 75% of their materials biodegradable but they're only on track to get to 50% that's a red flag they know that they need to come up with new tactics to hit that 75% in time now that we know what we're aiming for and how we'll know when we get there we can consider our action plan the day-to-day work we'll put in to achieve the okr you lead with okrs and you execute with actions