OKRs for All

CHAPTER 6Defining Your Key Results

With an objective having been defined, you'll move into the process of bringing clarity to the outcomes of that objective. What will the measures of success be?

These are the objective's key results, and they measure the outcome of an objective. A key result is meant to drive clarity by establishing what success of that objective actually means.

Key results are a core aspect of shifting focus from activity to impact. In addition to bringing clarity and focus on the outcomes, key results also provide the ability to track progress at regular intervals, so that you know if you're on track, and take any corrective action necessary before it is too late. Last, key results are used to score the objective at the end of your quarterly or annual OKR cycle—they provide an objective way to assess and learn.

Key Results Should Create Clarity

For each objective, you'll want to have three to five key results that add up to successfully achieving that objective. Having three to five key results for an objective is the rule of thumb because it adds the right amount of clarity to that objective. If you have too few key results, you may not be measuring the success in a balanced, holistic way. Having too many key results dilutes the clarity and focus.

In general, your key results should be quantitative, objectively measurable outcomes of impact of achieving the objective.

For example, let's say the objective is to “Earn customer love and trust”; one key result ...