OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results and is a goal management system that connects qualitative goals with measurable outcomes. Objectives describe what should be achieved, Key Results quantify how achievement will be measured. The methodology creates focus through deliberate constraint: a maximum of three to five Objectives per quarter, each with three to five Key Results.
An example: the Objective is to become market leader in the DACH region. Key Result one: acquire 10,000 new customers. Key Result two: achieve an NPS above 50. The Objectives set the direction, the Key Results make progress measurable. OKRs are set quarterly and evaluated at the end of each quarter. What matters is the bidirectional process: company goals are not simply cascaded down. Instead, teams contribute their own proposals for how they can support the overall objective. Transparency is central, as all OKRs are visible across the organization, which promotes alignment and prevents duplicate work.
OKR was developed in the 1970s by Andy Grove at Intel and introduced at Google by John Doerr in 1999. The most important distinction from traditional goal systems: OKRs are deliberately not tied to compensation, in order to encourage ambitious goal-setting.
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