What is an OKR?

OKR is an acronym that stands for “Objectives and Key Results”, a popular goal management framework that helps companies define and track their objectives and their outcomes.

It’s a framework used by some of the most successful companies in the world including Google, Intel and many more. The concept’s early beginnings lie in Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives (MBO) approach where objectives are clearly defined and agreed upon between an executive and their employees. This MBO approach was then adapted by Andy Grove the then CEO of Intel in the 1970s and was later published in his book “High Output Management”. The concept of OKR was a further adaptation by John Doerr, who was one of the earliest investors in Google. His introduction of OKR at Google in 1999 quickly became an important focus for the company, and with their success other companies such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Dropbox, Spotify, AirBnB and Uber followed suit. Now, OKRs are pretty commonplace among new age companies and in places like silicon valley, almost every company uses them.

Now that we have a decent understanding of OKR, let’s run through some examples and see what makes for a good OKR.

Thus, with OKR, a goal isn’t just what you want to achieve; it must include a way to measure achievement. OKRs have helped multiple businesses stay on track in a fast-paced, ever-changing industry, while still encouraging innovation. What about you?