OKR glossary

The “O” in OKR — the drafted statement of “what” an organization, team, or individual wants to achieve over an OKR cycle. Objectives should be aligned with a company’s overall mission, mission, and strategies. Objectives should be concrete, significant, short, action-oriented, and aspirational. The 3 types of Objectives: are Committed, Aspirational, and Learning.

“O" stands for Objective and “KR” stands for Key Result. You can track progress, create alignment, and encourage engagement via OKRs.

An OKR Practitioner or Expert for the implementation of OKRs inside an organization. They set the process of an organization implementing and maintaining a healthy OKR practice and Cycle. They help dispel any misunderstanding about OKRs.

An expert who coaches and supports organizations on the objective and key result framework. This guidance often includes hands-on assistance with drafting, implementing and refining, and reflecting on OKRs.

Also known as OKR, Objective, or Key Result lead. An individual assigned to a specific OKR who is responsible for the delivery of an Objective or key result.

OKR works best with regular check-ins. Reviews can be part of one-on-ones and weekly and monthly staff meetings. Checking in regularly helps teams adjust if they’re not making the progress as expected. There should be a more formal grading process at the end of each OKR Cycle. Grading and reflecting on Objectives and Key Results provides an opportunity to celebrate wins and to analyze what can be done differently in the next Cycle.

1) Focus, 2) Align, 3) Commit, 4) Track, and 5) Stretch are the main superpowers of OKRs.

One of 3 ways to define the desired state: by inputs, outputs, or outcomes. An Outcome OKR (or Key Result) is the most powerful as it tends to describe the desired result itself, rather than what you do to get there. Outcomes are more complex than outputs or inputs. They address a challenge more directly and reflect a before and after. Drafting a great Outcome Key Result can require extra time for reflection.

One of 3 ways to define the desired state: by inputs, outputs, or outcomes. An Output OKR (or Key Result) is the effects of your inputs, such as increasing revenue or conversion rate. An effective Output embeds the actions (inputs) within the objective. If your objective is to win an election, the Output Key Result could be to “get 50,000 people to vote for the candidate.”