OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) Guide

What are OKRs?

OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are a goal-setting framework used to define and track objectives and their measurable outcomes. They create alignment, focus, and accountability across your organization.

The OKR Structure

• Objective: What you want to achieve (qualitative, inspiring)
• Key Results: How you'll measure success (quantitative, specific)

Example OKR

Why Use OKRs?

• Alignment: Everyone knows company priorities
• Focus: Limit to 3-5 objectives per quarter
• Transparency: OKRs are visible to the whole organization
• Accountability: Clear owners and deadlines
• Agility: Adjust quarterly based on learning

Setting OKRs in Sizemotion

Step 1: Create OKR Cycle

1. Go to Goals > OKRs
2. Click "New OKR Cycle"
3. Set the time period (e.g., Q4 2025)
4. Choose scope (Company, Department, Team, or Individual)
5. Set start and end dates
6. Click "Create"

Step 2: Define Company OKRs

1. Start at the company level (leadership team)
2. Click "Add Objective"
3. Write a clear, inspiring objective
4. Add 2-5 key results with:
   • Metric name
   • Starting value
   • Target value
   • How it's measured
5. Assign an owner for the objective
6. Save and publish

Step 3: Cascade to Teams

1. Each team reviews company OKRs
2. Teams create their own OKRs that support company goals
3. Link team OKRs to parent company OKRs
4. Ensure no conflicts or gaps

Step 4: Individual OKRs (Optional)

1. Employees create personal OKRs aligned with team goals
2. Manager reviews and approves
3. Individual OKRs often focus on skill development or key projects

OKR Hierarchy

Tracking Progress

Weekly Check-ins

1. Navigate to your OKRs dashboard
2. Click "Update Progress" for each key result
3. Enter current value
4. Add status note (on track, at risk, off track)
5. Document blockers or wins

Progress Visualization

Sizemotion shows progress with:

• Progress bars: Visual % completion
• Status colors: Green (on track), yellow (at risk), red (off track)
• Trend charts: Progress over time
• Confidence level: Team's confidence in hitting target

Dashboards

View OKRs at different levels:

• My OKRs: Personal objectives
• Team OKRs: Your team's goals
• Company OKRs: Organization-wide objectives
• Reports: Cross-team progress summaries

AI Analysis & Insights

Sizemotion uses artificial intelligence to analyze your OKR data and provide strategic insights, helping leaders make data-driven decisions and identify opportunities for improvement without manually reviewing every objective.

What is AI Analysis for OKRs?

The AI Analysis feature leverages advanced language models to automatically examine your team's OKR progress, key results, check-ins, and historical data to generate comprehensive insights. This powerful tool helps you understand progress patterns, identify risks, and optimize your goal-setting strategy.

How to Generate AI Insights

1. Navigate to your OKR Dashboard (Company, Team, or Personal view)
2. Select the OKR cycle or time period you want to analyze
3. Click the "AI Analysis & Insights" button in the dashboard header
4. The AI will analyze all objectives, key results, and check-ins (typically takes 10-20 seconds)
5. Review the comprehensive analysis with categorized insights

What AI Analysis Includes

The AI-generated analysis provides strategic insights across multiple dimensions:

Overall Progress Assessment

• Cycle Health Score: Overall assessment of how the OKR cycle is performing
• On-Track vs At-Risk: Breakdown of objectives by status with trends
• Completion Velocity: Pace of progress compared to time remaining
• Historical Comparison: Performance vs previous cycles (if available)

Key Results Analysis

• High Performers: Key results exceeding expectations with success factors
• At-Risk Metrics: Key results falling behind target with impact assessment
• Stalled Progress: Key results with no recent updates or movement
• Achievability Review: Whether targets are appropriately ambitious (0.7-0.8 sweet spot)

Alignment & Focus

• Goal Alignment: How well team/individual OKRs support company objectives
• Concentration Analysis: Whether efforts are focused or too scattered
• Dependency Mapping: Cross-team dependencies and potential bottlenecks
• Priority Conflicts: Competing objectives that may need resolution

Blockers & Challenges

• Common Obstacles: Recurring blockers mentioned in check-ins
• Resource Constraints: Signals of understaffing or bandwidth issues
• External Dependencies: Blockers outside team control requiring escalation
• Technical Debt: System/process issues slowing progress

Strategic Recommendations

• Reallocation Opportunities: Suggest resource shifts based on progress
• Risk Mitigation: Proactive steps to address at-risk objectives
• Quick Wins: Near-complete key results that could boost morale
• Sunset Candidates: Objectives that may no longer be relevant
• Next Cycle Planning: Insights for setting better OKRs next quarter

Example AI Analysis Output

Best Practices for AI-Powered OKR Management

Optimal Analysis Timing

• Weekly Leadership Reviews: Generate insights every Monday for leadership team meetings
• Mid-Cycle Check-in: Deep analysis at the halfway point to course-correct
• Pre-Review Preparation: Before 1:1s or team reviews to have data-driven discussions
• Sprint Planning: Use insights to prioritize work aligned with at-risk OKRs
• Real-Time Monitoring: Check dashboard insights when making resource decisions

Maximizing AI Insight Quality

The quality of AI analysis depends on data quality. Encourage teams to:

• Update Regularly: Check in on key results at least weekly
• Add Context: Include notes about progress, blockers, and learnings
• Be Specific: Detailed check-ins produce more accurate AI insights
• Mark Blockers: Clearly identify obstacles so AI can detect patterns
• Update Status: Keep objective status current (on track, at risk, off track)

Acting on AI Recommendations

• Prioritize Risk Mitigation: Address at-risk objectives flagged by AI first
• Validate Insights: AI provides data-driven suggestions—use judgment for final decisions
• Communicate Findings: Share relevant insights with team leads and stakeholders
• Track Impact: Note which AI recommendations led to improved outcomes
• Iterate Strategy: Use insights to refine OKR-setting process for next cycle

AI Insights for Different Roles

For Leadership & Executives

• Company-wide progress and alignment assessment
• Strategic priorities that need attention or reallocation
• Cross-departmental dependency and bottleneck identification
• Predictive forecasting for cycle completion likelihood
• Portfolio view of all objectives with risk scoring

For Team Leads & Managers

• Team-specific progress tracking and trend analysis
• Individual contributor performance and support needs
• Workload balance and resource allocation recommendations
• Blocker patterns requiring escalation or team discussion
• Talking points for 1:1s based on OKR progress

For Individual Contributors

• Personal OKR progress compared to team and company
• Impact assessment of individual work on team goals
• Suggestions for focusing efforts on high-value activities
• Career development opportunities aligned with OKRs
• Skills or support needed to achieve objectives

Integration with Check-ins

AI insights become more powerful when combined with regular check-ins:

• Each key result update feeds into the AI analysis
• Check-in notes are analyzed for sentiment and blocker patterns
• Confidence levels help AI assess realistic completion probability
• Historical check-in data improves prediction accuracy

Privacy & Data Security

• AI analysis only accesses OKRs you have permission to view
• Analysis respects team and individual privacy settings
• All data processing complies with enterprise security standards

Review & Scoring

Mid-Quarter Review

At the halfway point:

1. Review progress on all key results
2. Identify what's working and what's not
3. Adjust tactics (not usually objectives)
4. Reallocate resources if needed
5. Document learnings

End-of-Quarter Scoring

When the quarter ends:

1. Go to each key result
2. Enter final achieved value
3. Sizemotion calculates % of target hit
4. Score the objective overall (typically 0-1.0 scale)

Scoring Guidelines

• 0.0-0.3: Failed to deliver
• 0.4-0.6: Made progress but fell short
• 0.7-0.9: Delivered successfully (target range!)
• 1.0: Exceeded expectations

💡 Note: Consistently scoring 1.0 means your OKRs aren't ambitious enough. Aim for 0.7-0.8 average.

Retrospective

After scoring:

• Discuss what helped achieve results
• Document blockers and challenges
• Celebrate wins
• Identify improvements for next cycle
• Archive the completed cycle

Best Practices

📝 Writing Good Objectives

• Inspirational: Should excite and motivate the team
• Qualitative: Describes what you want to achieve
• Time-bound: Clear start and end date (quarterly)
• Actionable: Team has control over the outcome
• Clear: No jargon or ambiguity

Good vs Bad Objectives

❌ Bad	✅ Good
Improve the product	Delight users with a fast, intuitive product
Increase revenue	Become the top choice for SMB customers
Launch new feature	Empower teams to collaborate seamlessly

🎯 Writing Good Key Results

• Measurable: Specific number or metric
• Verifiable: Data-backed, not subjective
• Ambitious: Stretch goal, not business-as-usual
• Limited: 2-5 key results per objective
• Owned: Clear person/team responsible

Good vs Bad Key Results

❌ Bad	✅ Good
Make customers happy	Increase NPS from 40 to 60
Improve performance	Reduce page load time from 3s to <1s
Get more users	Grow MAU from 10k to 25k

💡 Pro Tips

• Start small: Don't OKR everything—focus on top priorities
• Bottom-up input: Teams contribute to OKR creation
• Public by default: Transparency drives alignment
• Link to work: Connect projects and tasks to OKRs in Sizemotion
• Separate from performance: OKRs track goals, not individual reviews
• Celebrate learning: Missing an OKR isn't failure if you learned

🚨 Common Mistakes

• Too many OKRs: Limit to 3-5 per level
• Not ambitious enough: Should feel like a stretch
• Not measurable: "Improve quality" → "Reduce bugs by 50%"
• Set and forget: Check in weekly or bi-weekly
• No alignment: Team OKRs should support company goals
• Activity-based: "Launch feature X" is a task, not a key result

Example OKRs by Department

Engineering

Objective: Build a scalable, reliable platform

• Achieve 99.9% uptime
• Reduce P1 incidents from 10/month to 2/month
• Handle 10x current load (100k → 1M requests/sec)

Sales

Objective: Become the leader in the SMB market

• Close $2M in new ARR
• Increase win rate from 25% to 40%
• Acquire 50 customers with 100+ employees

Product

Objective: Make Sizemotion indispensable for managers

• Achieve 80% weekly active usage among managers
• Launch 3 high-impact features with >60% adoption
• Improve feature satisfaction score from 7.5 to 9.0

Next Steps

• Performance Reviews to align individual goals
• 1:1 Meetings to discuss OKR progress
• Manager Guide for cascading OKRs to your team