Remembering that an OKR is a work management methodology that aims to facilitate the objectives set by a company by quantitatively and qualitatively measuring the progress of the teams. When we talk about Objectives and Key Results, we are talking about a tool that can mark the destiny of an organization by applying a method that allows to organize the day to day of the company, defining work groups and monitoring the progress of each employee.
If you have any doubts about the OKR methodology, please consult our previous
How to introduce the OKR methodology
You may already be thinking about the potential of a methodology that big brands such as Google, LinkedIn or Twitter have not hesitated to work with. But how can you apply it to your projects? First of all, understand two basic elements: objectives and key results.
Once it is clear to you that you must take care of both values, it is key that you ask yourself two questions posed by one of the main proponents of the method, the founder and CEO of Perdoo, Henrik-Jan van der Pol:
- Where do you want to go?
- How will you know that you have arrived?
To answer the first one, you will have to set yourself some goals. To give an adequate answer to the second one, you need to achieve key results – read on and we’ll tell you how!
Here are some ideas on how to create your own OKRs for the various departments your company may have.
- Usability
Objectives:
Enrich the user experience to avoid customer or potential audience leakage.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
|Improve the speed of the website by X%.
|Eliminate X number of steps to make an online shopping process easier.
|Get a new user to register in X seconds or minutes less.
- Data Sources
Objectives:
Refine the product or service by having better data.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Use X new data sources.
Test a new data mining tool every six months (or other period of time).
- Features
Objectives:
Deliver new features and services to users to ensure they remain in the future.
Key outcomes to achieve these objectives:
Be able to offer 24-hour (or other period of time) customer support via phone, chatbots or email.
Provide each product in the online store with X number more models or colors.
Translate the website or app into X number of languages before the end of the year.
- Updates
Objectives:
Release new versions that fix bugs in previous versions or contain new features, or avoid releasing them for emergencies.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Release a new version every month instead of every two months (or other time periods).
Reduce patch releases each year by a specified amount.
- Data Security
Objectives:
Improve data protection and recovery in the app, software, cloud services, etc.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Reduce time to migrate or backup by X seconds, minutes or hours.
Improve the data recovery rate by X% or install it on a new machine X% faster.
- IT
Objectives:
Prevent cybersecurity breaches.
Key outcomes to achieve these objectives:
Conduct a comprehensive cybersecurity assessment every year (or other time period).
- Business
Objectives:
Expand to other regions in the same country and penetrate a foreign market.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Increase the number of domestic customers or sales by X%.
To have X number of international customers or sales in X years.
- Sales
Objectives:
To have more subscribers to a service and to maintain long-term customers.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Together with the Marketing team, increase lead conversion rate by X%.
Reduce product returns or service cancellations by X%.
- Marketing
Objectives:
Have a large lead file and prepare the launch campaign for a product or service.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Obtain X number of leads.
Design X number of blog or social media posts to promote the new product or service.
Increase monthly visits to the website by X number more sessions or monthly users
- Sustainability (financial, environmental…)
Objectives:
Save on operational costs, be financially sustainable in the long term and meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Revise electricity and water contracts to reduce spending by X%.
Increase revenue by X% to keep the company viable.
Reduce the company’s carbon emissions completely by 2030.
- Human Resources
Objectives:
Showcase the company as a great place to work (great place to work) and retain current talent.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Get employees to do X% more training year-on-year.
Improve employee satisfaction survey results by at least half a point over previous year’s surveys.
- Audit
Objectives:
Analyze new risks found and expedite obtaining audit reports.
Key results to achieve these objectives:
Review by the end of the month at least X% of the risks found.
Draft and send an audit report within X days after the end of the audit.
