FYI: If you don’t know what OKRs are, read this first 🤓

Understanding the Preparation Phase

• The 2-3 days between the OKR Briefing and the OKR Team Barcamp are critical for reflecting on and creating the upcoming quarter's objectives and key results.
• Every team member should commit at least 2h per day to consider what objectives we should aim to achieve in the next quarter and how we'll measure success (the Key Results).
• While individuals can formulate their objectives and key results independently, sharing and sparring these ideas within the team is encouraged.
• These initial thoughts form the foundation for discussions during the Barcamp, making the selection process more efficient.

Preparing the individual OKRs

1. Crafting Objectives

1. Review the information shared in the OKR-Briefing and your notes.

2. Phrase your first objective on the OKR Board using the following kickoff-question: ,,If there were nothing to accomplish except one thing, what would that be?”

   • Example

3. Evaluate the first draft of your objective. Is it motivating? If not, refine it:

   • Ask, "Why is this objective important to me and the company this quarter?" → Write the answer as a new objective under your initial one.
   • Repeat this process up to 5 times to dig deeper into the purpose and benefit of the objective.
   • Example

4. Refine your objective further to ensure they:

   1. Describe a state our company aims to reach by the end of the quarter.
   2. Are phrased as qualitative goals without incorporating metrics.
   3. Are significant, concrete, action-oriented, and motivating.
      • Example
   4. Are confined to a maximum of four per quarter, keeping execution focused.

   <aside> 💡 Document each iteration of the objective under your first draft. This lets you and others trace your thought process.

   </aside>

5. Check the OKR board for similar OKRs, ones that pique your interest, or ones you don't fully understand. Arrange a meeting with the respective team members to challenge ideas and widen your perspective.

6. Select a maximum of four key objectives you believe are crucial for the upcoming quarter.

<aside> 🤖 In case you need closer support to phrase your objective, you can copy-paste the following experimental prompt in ChatGPT4 or Microsoft Bing Chat to guide you through.

• Experimental prompt to phrase objectives </aside>

2. Deriving the key results

1. After setting your objectives, think about the strategies that could enable the company to achieve your objectives by the quarter's end.

   • Example

   <aside> 💡 Brainstorm with colleagues or revisit past OKRs and related strategies for inspiration.

   </aside>

2. Break down each strategy into epics. This helps assess resources needed versus those available, giving a realistic estimate of the strategy's feasibility.

   • Example

3. Choose a metric that accurately reflects the success of an end-stage epic and note it as a key result under the objective on the OKR board.

   • Example

   <aside> 💡 The more detailed your strategy, the better you can assess its feasibility within the quarter. If your objective seems too ambitious or too modest, adjust it.

   </aside>

4. Use the company's dashboards to study past performance trends in your chosen metric. Review the past workload to set an ambitious but realistic value for the key result (e.g. 28% 30-day retention).