OKR Glossary
OKR Framework Glossary for a practical implementation and execution.
Glossary
Alignment: Every contribution is towards the Ultimate Goal.
A state where managers, teams and individuals clearly link their day-to-day activities to the organization’s goals. OKR Superpower #2 is Align.
Focus: What is the most important right now.
The center of attention. Using OKRs, teams are able to prioritize their time by setting only a handful of OKRs. This enables drilling down on and aligning with the organization’s top priorities. OKR Superpower #1 is Focus.
Goal Management: Managing the directional targets by focusing on communication and understanding.
Goal management is the process of defining and keeping track of short-term and long-term goals so we can better understand how we can help the company grow. Goals describe where we want to go and how we want to grow in the future.
Initiative: The connection point between Goal Management and Task Management. The highest grouping layer of the tasks. Energy or aptitude displayed in initiation of action towards a goal.
A description of what you’ll do to get to your destination. Initiatives and goals are often confused, in order to solve that, refer to Goal Management.
KPI: Metrics measuring operations, they’re not Key Results particularly.
An acronym for key performance indicators. KPIs are metrics used to measure the operations of an organization. It’s important for KPIs to measure essential metrics that can help you make better decisions. For example, KPIs can track revenue or uptime of a key service.
Key Result: What you’d like to see at the end.
The “KR” in OKRs. Completing a Key Result is not subjective. At the end of an OKR cycle, you either meet the performance benchmark or you don’t. Key Results work as a set, must be tied to a specific Objective, and are used to guide actions throughout each cycle. Key Results help for managing stakeholders as well as it gives the visibility to What Matters and what the stakeholders should be only concerned about.
Mission: What we’re currently doing as a company in the market.
A short and clear statement that encapsulates “why” your organization does everything it does. A mission statement is often the raw material for top-level OKRs.
Objective: Your ambitious goal, strategy definition to your unit and outside the unit.
The “O” in OKR — the written statement of “what” you (an organization, team, or individual) want to achieve over the next cycle. It describes a future state that seems almost unachievable, and aligned with a company’s overall mission and goals. The three types of Objectives (and OKRs) are Committed, Aspirational, or Learning.
Outcome: Materialized/more tangible results. At the end, what stays with you are the outcomes, as you “generate” them.
It tends to describe the desired end result itself, rather than what you do to get there. Crafting a great Outcome Key Result can require extra time for reflection, but the conversation that this provokes is often very enlightening.
Output: Efforts towards the goals. Not particularly generating outcomes. A meeting towards a goal can be an output, while the summary document/material you generated is an outcome.
The actions or items that contribute to achieving an outcome.
SMART goals: Goal format for having a high quality definition. When a goal is written in SMART format, it contains all the necessary elements for a goal. Key Results must be written in SMART format for OKRs to succeed.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Therefore, a SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving your goal.
Strategy: The application of strength against weakness, so that it creates strength.
Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead. Focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it.
Tactics: The art of ordering or arranging. Actions towards a goal.
Successful tactics often include an ‘implementation intention’—a specific trigger that signals when they should be used. Simply deciding what to do is rarely enough. We need an “if this, then that” plan for where, when and why. The short-term nature and flexibility of tactics allow us to pivot as needed, choosing the right ones for the situation, to achieve our larger, strategic goals.
Task: An activity that has a start and end date, clear specification and assignee.
Tasks are the actions you need to take in order to achieve your objectives.
Task Management: Structure that is used to plan, track and report the Tasks.
Task management is the process of managing a task through its life cycle
Transparency: Elements of the OKRs are clearly reachable for any layer. Public access(organization wise).
Visible, openly-shared, seen by all. One of the key virtues of OKRs is that everyone’s goals — from the CEO down — are openly shared. This paves the way for deeper conversations, more effective focus and collaboration, as well as alignment between departments. Openly shared OKRs show the connections between each individual’s work, team efforts, departmental projects, and the organization’s overall mission, which is why transparency is the backbone of Superpower #2, Align.
Values: What makes us different than the other organizations.
Shared ideals or beliefs among the organization. A company’s values should inform their OKRs, and a company’s OKRs should align with its values.
Vision: Ultimate Direction. Where we want to be in 5+ years.
Inspirational statement of an idealistic emotional future of a company. It often doesn’t change, but evolve.
Ultimate Goal: In a nutshell, what’s our aim as a company.
Combination of the vision and mission, simplified in a goal format. Your ultimate goal defines what it’s “ultimately” all about for your organization. It’s your North Star to which all other goals align.
OKR Check-in
It’s important to remember the OKRs every time when you meet with your team for planning. Remembering Why we’re doing what we’ re doing makes our work more efficient with a higher quality.
Often the Plans are connected to some existing Initiatives that needs to be worked more than 1 check-in.
OKRs is the compass used in all the ceremonies, not just once but every time as the main element.
Best Practices
- OKRs are all about Focus, Alignment. It fosters Transparency and the purpose is Operational Efficiency
- OKRs are for Goal Management, not Task Management
- It’s important to validate your Objectives, Key Results, and Initiatives
- OKRs in action have three key elements to work properly: Planning, Execution, Contribution.
High-level Process
