How good are your OKRs? Here is a set of questions to ask yourself to check to see how good your OKRs are.
Overall:
☑️ Who is the customer? Is it clear who the value is being delivered to?
☑️ Do we understand what behaviour change we are expecting? Why is the customer desiring this change?
☑️ Was the OKR written as a collaborative cross-functional team?
☑️ Is the OKR time bound? Does it have an owner?
☑️ Is the OKR connected to strategy?
☑️ Does the OKR have a parent/child? (e.g. 1-year OKR connected to a 3-year OKR)
Objective:
☑️ What is the problem being solved? Is it clear?
☑️ Is the 'so what' to the customer clear? Is the impact / value driver clear?
☑️ Is the objective defined as an outcome hypothesis OR as a predetermined solution? What capability is needed?
☑️ Is the objective defined as an aspirational goal or a defined target?
☑️ How many OKRs have been defined?
Key Results:
☑️ How will you know if you've been successful? (i.e. lagging metric)
☑️ How will you know if you're on the right track? (i.e. leading metrics)
☑️ How many KRs have been defined? Do we have too many? Not enough?
☑️ Are the KRs quantifiable? Is the action required clear? (e.g. improve, decrease, etc.)
☑️ Do the KRs represent the expected behaviour change?
☑️ How can the KRs be measured? Is the 'from to' clear?