Stop 02 · Product Strategy & VisionTopics · 2/11

OKRs (Objectives & Key Results)

In short

OKRs help a team agree on what "winning this quarter" means. One inspiring goal, a few numbers that prove it, and no arguments later about whether you did well.

A goal-setting framework pairing a qualitative Objective ('become the easiest app to onboard with') with measurable Key Results ('cut signup time from 4 min to 90 sec') to keep teams aligned and honest about progress.

The purple blob jogs in running gear, checking a stopwatch, with hills in the distance.

Think of it like this

Training for your first marathon

"Get fit" is a wish. "Finish the half marathon in December" is an objective. "Run 5 km in 30 minutes" and "Run four times a week for 8 weeks" are key results. You can check them with a stopwatch, no debate.

Watch it happen

One quarter of OKRs

Objective

Key results

Initiatives

Check-ins

Score

1/5Objective: "Make new users feel at home in their first week." Inspiring, qualitative, no number yet.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Objective: where to go

Short, memorable and motivating. No numbers needed. It answers "what do we want to achieve?"

Key results: proof

Two to four measurable outcomes. If you hit them, the objective is clearly done.

Outcomes, not tasks

"Launch the new onboarding" is a task. "Day-7 retention reaches 30%" is a key result.

Review them often

OKRs set in January and forgotten until March are useless. Look at them in weekly team meetings.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Writing ten objectives with five key results each.

Do this instead

Keep it to one to three objectives per team. If everything is a priority, nothing is.

Oops

Listing shipped features as key results.

Do this instead

Ask what change the feature should cause, and measure that change instead.

Your mission

Write OKRs for your college club

~20 min

Quick check

Which of these is a good key result?

Go deeper

1Write one OKR for a feature you'd want to ship, with 2-3 measurable key results.
2Learn the common failure mode: key results that are just a list of tasks, not outcomes.
3Study how OKRs cascade from company level down to team level.