OKR Engineering Examples: How to write Business Objectives and Key Results?
Table of Contents
It goes without saying that every business has goals to grow. Whether they’re internal, like increasing employers’ satisfaction rates, or external, such as developing brand awareness and attracting more customers, you need a plan to achieve them.
It is definitely not enough to put your intentions into the universe.
That’s where OKRs which stand for Objectives and Key Results as shown in this example: okr software development take effect.
Whatever your goals are, you need a document where you describe where your business is going as well as metrics that you use to track your progress. OKRs are an essential part of the SMART approach because they help you to make your goals measurable and actionable.
But is engineering OKR development easy? Obviously not. You need to invest your time and effort to get a decent result.
So, if you’re wondering how to come up with efficient OKRs, we can provide you with helpful tips and some practical examples!
A step-by-step guide to writing OKRs
The first thing you should understand about key objectives examples is that they’re not written by a CEO alone. Each member of the team has input into what the goals should be. Of course, there will be goals on an individual, team, and company level but eventually each employer and employee has ownership of success.
The next thing is related to different categories. It is necessary to develop objectives and key results for your product development, performance, reliability & security, education, quality assurance, customer success, and so on. These are parts of the same puzzle and avoiding some would be a mistake.
However, there are some basic steps that you should take regardless of your zone of responsibility.
1. Define your business goals
Writing effective OKRs for operations starts with understanding your company’s goals. It is essential to be clear on the vision and inform your team to ensure that you’re on the same page. Such goals will sound like this:
- Find a new niche for product A;
- Stand out among competitors in market B;
- Find a way and develop a strategy to attract an audience C.
Once you have well-defined organizational goals, your team members can develop objectives and key results on other levels.
2. Ensure that you have the right tools in place
The days have gone when it was enough to have a sheet of paper and pencil. Like any project, having the right digital tools for the task is essential. The good news is that there is plenty of various software that will help you to stay aligned with your goals. They are especially helpful in times of remote or hybrid work when team members are in different countries and time zones.
From Google Forms and Sheets, CultureAmp, and Koan to Miro and PeopleGo, there are many different tools for identifying goals, keeping them transparent, staying in sync with your team, and measuring performance. With modern software, you also can score and manage your OKRs efficiently.
3. Get your team member involved
We have mentioned that it is important to ensure that your experienced team of employees understands the business goals and contributes to OKRs development. That’s why once you put in place the necessary tools, you need to call a meeting and invite your employers to brainstorm. Along with team goals, you should develop individual objectives and key results that will fit into the bigger picture.
4. Develop objectives
What team objectives examples can you use? Let’s look at these ones:
- Improve the quality of the team’s releases;
- Test several tools to choose the best one;
- Boost the stability of product releases;
- Take the quality of the mobile app to the next level;
- Make data security bulletproof;
- Make a Knowledge Base a helpful resource.
It is easy to notice that objectives are very short – they always consist of one sentence. You can add a short description if you believe that explanation is needed. Feel free to set ambitious objectives, the bar shouldn’t be too low. At the same time, it is important to know that your goals are achievable and that you have specific time limits for this purpose.
5. Come up with key results and initiatives
Examples of key results can’t exist without objectives. Actually, KRs are how progress is measured towards the O. In other words, it is your map to get to the destination.
Let’s say you want to expand your team’s knowledge and develop a mobile version of the product. It is your objective. What key results can show that your goal is achieved?
- 5 developers get a certificate on mastering AngularJS.
- Build 2 KPI dashboards to test the knowledge.
- Develop at least 5 (of 15) planned parts of the mobile application.
Now you can create initiatives – when you put all this together, you develop a plan of how you will put the OKRs into action.
What else do you need to achieve your goal? What do you lack?
At this stage, you still can get back to your OKR examples for information technology and make amends if you feel that you missed something.
6. Track your OKRs
We know that you start with the best of intentions when it comes to business planning. However, though brainstorming is a great part of the job, even the best-looking templates will not help you if you just forget about them exactly after the development.
All objectives and key results examples work when you track them consistently. Develop your schedule so that it includes review meetings on a regular basis. There should be different formats, e.g., 1:1s, team meetings, organizational quarterly meetings, and so on.
Wrapping things up, it is necessary to mention that this approach is not just about business goals. OKR methodology helps you to stay in touch with your team, build a great internal culture, ensure that all your employers have the same vision, and contribute to the company’s success. The culture of openness and transparency should be one of your key priorities, and regular objectives and key results check-in is the thing that will keep you on track!