Ask These Questions To Be Able To Write Strong OKRs

Most teams set OKRs the way 5-year-olds answer the question:  “What do you want to be when you grow up?” 

Kids don’t need to be realistic. 

They aren’t expected to have an execution plan. 

Nobody holds them accountable if their dreams remain just that, dreams. 

For companies, it can mean going out of business. A nightmare. 

These 7 questions will help you set better OKRs and turn dreams into reality: 

What do you want to achieve? 

The 5-year-old’s answer is good enough. Quick and easy. Don’t turn this into a metrics vomit. Also, beware that while Revenue is the obvious answer (as Google’s Eric Schmidt said “Revenue solves all problems”), it’s often the “I just want to be happy” answer. 

Why? But why?

Ask this 3 times to get to the core of it. Why those goals? Why do they matter? Why do we believe in them? And so on. Pressure test the goals to prevent chasing the wrong ones. Competing priorities will emerge and you will need to make hard decisions. 

What would it take to get there? 

This is where I spend the most time with teams. What I want to see is solid thinking and a thorough understanding of: 1) what they need to do, 2) what others need to do (a.k.a. dependencies), 3) what external factors / risks they need to consider. 

Whose neck is on the line to get it done? 

It’s all sweet and cute to have “teamwork”, yet, someone needs to be accountable for pushing things forward. Jeff Bezos famously wouldn’t even discuss initiatives unless there was a clear DRI (directly responsible individual) on it. 

Is this all realistic? 

It’s good to be optimistic but let’s not get cocky. Do you have the people, the skillset and the resources to deliver it all? Within the timeline you set? For real? 

How do you know if you are on the right track in achieving your goals? 

I don’t like big surprises at the end of the quarter when there is nothing that can be done to fix the situation. Interim milestones are underrated yet so powerful.  

When push comes to shove, what is truly critical? 

Those are your P0 priorities. If the team can’t hit those goals, it’s life or death for the company. Pick only 1 or 2 max. The rest is important too, but not critical.