Examples of Key Results

Examples of Key Results

Let’s write Key Results that put you on track to achieving your Objectives.

Just like Objectives, the language you use matters. The way you phrase things influences how your team executes. For example, which of these two Key Results do you think will have more impact on your team’s performance?

#1: Identify all bottlenecks in the review pipeline
#2: Reduce review time to under 5 minutes.

Both of them mean removing bottlenecks. But in the second one, the impact we’re after is much clearer.

Characteristics of a good Key Result

Here are the criteria for a great set of Key Results:

• Key Results are specific and timebound. They say we will get exactly this far in this amount of time.

• KRs are aggressive yet realistic. They have an appropriate amount of “stretch” built into them.

• Most of all, they’re measurable and verifiable. Key Results are not subjective. At the end of the cycle, you’ll know whether or not they’ve been met. If you want a product to be “better,” specify how much better. Choose something you can measure and that anyone on the team can verify.

Here’s a more detailed example: Let’s say the Objective is to run a 10K in under 50 minutes. And to do it within the next three months, we’re going to have to measure a few things:

• how often we get out to train
• how far we’re running
• and how fast we’re running

That leads us to three Key Results:

KR1: Go for a run for at least 30 minutes, three times per week.

KR2: Increase the distance of the run by one mile each week.

KR3: increase speed by five seconds per mile each week, with a goal of a sub-eight-minute mile.

Together, those three Key Results get us to our Objective of running a 10K in under 50 minutes within three months. Let’s go back and look more closely at the first KR:

KR1: Go for a run for at least thirty minutes, three times per week.

Is it specific and timebound?
Yes. There’s no doubt about how often we’re supposed to go for a run. And we know we’ll be running three times a week for the next three months.

Is it aggressive yet realistic?
Well, considering I’m only running once a week now, upping it to three times a week seems like a realistic stretch. I could have been super-ambitious and set the KR to make myself run seven days a week, but honestly – that isn’t realistic!

Is it measurable and verifiable?
Absolutely. After each run, we can tick off the calendar and mark the time we ran. It will be very clear: either I did it or I didn’t.

Notice how all of these Key Results add up to the Objective. If we could still run a 10K under time without meeting all of our Key Results, that means we’ve picked some KRs that aren’t important enough.

On the other hand, if we achieve all of our Key Results and we still aren’t able to run the 10K in under 50 minutes, it means that we’re either missing an essential Key Result, or the ones we set weren’t ambitious enough.

OKR example: Allbirds

Some of the best Key Results have common characteristics. Let’s look at an actual set of Key Results from the apparel company Allbirds. They set an Objective to design shoes with the lowest carbon footprint in their industry.

How did they get there? With these four Key Results:

KR1: Ensure that their supply chain and shipping infrastructure are 100% zero waste.
KR2: Pay 100% of the carbon offset for calculated carbon dioxide emissions.
KR3: Make 25% of materials compostable.
KR4: Make 75%of materials biodegradable.

These four KRs define how they’ll have the lowest carbon footprint in their industry. And all four need to be true to get there.

Great Key Results capture achievement. They have a clear end result. Take that first KR, for example:

KR1: Ensure that their supply chain and shipping infrastructure are 100% zero waste.

With some effort, that’s a very measurable thing. The company needs to eliminate all waste, and they won’t succeed until they hit that 100 percent.

Getting to zero waste won’t happen in one go. It will require an iterative process by Allbirds’ design, manufacturing, and distribution teams. At the same time, those teams will work on reducing their carbon emissions.

To address any emissions gap, their second KR is to purchase carbon offsets to help meet the Objective of creating the lowest carbon footprint in their industry:

KR2: Pay 100% of the carbon offset for calculated carbon dioxide emissions.

Once they’re set, great Key Results also communicate progress. You can measure how far you are from meeting the Objective at any point. If Allbirds improved from 10 percent of materials being composted to 20 percent, that’s clear progress – but they know they still need to get to 25 percent to satisfy their third Key Result:

KR3: 25% of material is compostable.

Now the team has something to track and an action plan to create.

That’s why great Key Results act as an early warning signal when things aren’t working quite right. Through tracking their Key Results, a team can tell if an effort is stalled or falling short. If that’s the case, their KRs can trigger an adjustment to their approach.

If Allbirds has made a serious effort to meet their fourth KR:

KR4: 75% of material is biodegradable.

but they’re only on track to get to 50 percent, that’s a red flag! They know they need to come up with new tactics to hit that 75% in time.

Now that we know what we’re aiming for and how we’ll know when we get there, we can consider our action plan: the day-to-day work we’ll put in to achieve the OKR.

You’ll lead with OKRs and execute with actions.