The OKRs Field Book: A Step-by-Step Guide for Objectives and Key Results Coaches

by Ben Lamorte

Three Questions to Ask: Fundamental key result question: At the end of the period, how will we know “the objective” will be achieved? What metric needs to move to reflect progress on the objective? How will we make the objective measurable? Tips Give your client time to write silently when drafting key results. Ask each participant to write as many ideas as possible in a few minutes. Then, have them compare their draft key results in groups of two and share their best key result. Specify the baseline! Instead of writing a key result in the form “Increase metric A to Y,” specify the baseline so that the key result takes the form of “Increase metric A from X to Y.” If the current value is unknown, encourage your client to explore a baseline key result. Focus on the essence of key results when drafting. Do not obsess on the exact values of X and Y at this stage. You can use an approximation, so that the draft key result takes the form of “Increase metric A from ~X to ~Y.”