Best Practices for Creating Great OKRs
Rui Luis
Last Update 2 maanden geleden
Writing effective OKRs takes a bit of practice — but with the right approach, they can become a powerful engine for focus and alignment.
Here’s how to write OKRs that actually work.
Your Objective should answer the question:
“What meaningful goal are we trying to achieve?”
Great Objectives are:
Ambitious – push your team to grow
Clear – no room for interpretation
Action-oriented – use strong, motivational language
💡 Good: Improve customer retention through better onboarding
🚫 Not great: Customer retention
Your Key Results are how you measure success. They should be:
Specific – no vagueness allowed
Quantitative – use numbers and % when possible
Outcome-based – measure results, not tasks
💡 Good: Increase retention rate from 75% to 90%
🚫 Not great: Launch email campaign
Use 2–5 Key Results per Objective — enough to define success, but not so many you lose focus.
Every OKR should tie back to your broader goals. Ask:
Does this OKR move the needle on our strategic priorities?
Is this something that matters now?
Can the team influence the outcome?
They're not performance reviews — they're shared commitments.
Involve teams in writing them
Make sure everyone knows how they contribute
Encourage cross-functional alignment
OKRs should have a defined time frame — typically quarterly.
In OKR Focus, use Cycles to:
Set a rhythm for planning and reflection
Keep teams aligned across time periods
Reset and refine based on learnings
Don’t let OKRs become a wishlist.
In OKR Focus, you can:
Link KRs to projects, tasks, or check-ins
Track progress visually
Keep updates and discussion in one place
When OKRs are connected to execution, they drive real momentum.
Even seasoned teams refine their OKR-writing over time.
After each cycle, ask:
Were the Objectives too vague or too easy?
Were the KRs actionable and measurable?
Did we feel focused or stretched too thin?
Improving how you write OKRs is part of building a high-performance culture.