When my friend Sarah took over as head of product at a mid-sized tech company, she inherited a team that was smart, creative, and motivated—but also scattered. Everyone was working hard, but when she asked what the top priorities were for the quarter, she got ten different answers.
“We had no shortage of ambition,” she told me. “The problem was focus. We were trying to do everything at once, and in the end, we weren’t moving the needle on the things that mattered most.”
That’s when she decided to introduce OKRs: Objectives and Key Results.
The First Attempt
Sarah had heard about OKRs from a mentor who worked at Google, where the framework had been part of the culture since the early days. She liked the simplicity of the idea: set ambitious objectives, define measurable key results, and use them to keep everyone aligned.
Her first attempt, though, didn’t go smoothly.
“We went too big,” she admitted. “Every team came back with five or six objectives, each with a long list of key results. It was overwhelming. Instead of creating clarity, we just created more noise.”
That’s a common mistake with OKRs. When you try to capture everything you’re doing, you lose the power of focus. Sarah’s team quickly realized they had to scale back.
The Reset
The next quarter, they tried again. This time, Sarah asked each team to choose no more than three objectives. She encouraged them to think big but to keep it inspiring and easy to understand.
One of the product team’s objectives was simple:
“Make our app effortless to use.”
It was broad, yes, but it captured what they cared about most. Then they defined key results to measure progress:
- Reduce the average time to complete onboarding from 10 minutes to 4 minutes.
- Increase weekly active users from 5,000 to 7,500.
- Achieve an app store rating of 4.5 stars or higher.
Suddenly, things clicked. The objective was aspirational, while the key results gave the team clear targets. For the first time, they felt aligned.
The Weekly Rhythm
The biggest change wasn’t just setting OKRs—it was how the team used them week to week.
Instead of filing them away until the end of the quarter, Sarah made them part of the rhythm. In every Monday stand-up, the team looked at their key results. Were they moving closer? Were they stalled? Did they need to adjust?
This kept OKRs alive. They weren’t just words on a slide; they became part of the team’s decision-making. If a new idea came up, the first question was always: “Does this help us hit our OKRs?” If the answer was no, it usually got deprioritized.
The Ripple Effect
As the product team found success with OKRs, other departments noticed. Marketing adopted the framework, then customer success, and soon the entire company was working toward a shared set of goals.
One of the company-wide objectives was:
“Delight our customers at every touchpoint.”
For customer success, that translated into key results like improving average response time. For marketing, it meant securing more customer testimonials. For product, it meant reducing friction in the app.
Different teams, different metrics—but all aligned with the same big-picture goal. That’s when Sarah realized the real power of OKRs: they connected the dots across the organization.
Lessons Learned
Sarah’s team didn’t get everything right on the first try (or the second). But over time, they learned a few important lessons:
- Less is more – Three objectives per team is plenty. Any more, and focus disappears.
- Stretch, don’t stress – OKRs should be ambitious enough to push you, but not so extreme that they feel impossible.
- Measure outcomes, not outputs – Launching a new feature isn’t success by itself. The success is in the impact it creates—more users, higher satisfaction, better retention.
- Make it visible – The company put all OKRs in a shared dashboard. Everyone could see how other teams were doing, which built accountability and transparency.
- Celebrate progress – Even when they hit 70% of their key results, Sarah made sure the team celebrated. That recognition kept motivation high.
The Cultural Shift
What started as a way to set goals ended up shaping the culture. Meetings became more focused. Teams started speaking the same language. Priorities were clearer.
Perhaps the biggest shift was in mindset. People stopped equating busyness with impact. They stopped chasing every new idea just because it was exciting. Instead, they asked: “Does this move us closer to our objectives?”
That simple filter changed everything.
Why OKRs Work
Stories like Sarah’s aren’t unique. Many teams that adopt OKRs go through the same journey: confusion at first, overcomplication in the beginning, and then clarity once they simplify.
The reason OKRs work is because they force you to answer two simple questions:
- What do we really want to achieve?
- How will we know if we’re making progress?
It sounds obvious, but in practice, those questions cut through noise and help teams focus on what truly matters.
Final Thoughts
OKRs are not just a framework—they’re a discipline. They only work if you commit to them, revisit them, and use them as a guide for daily decisions.
When done right, OKRs can help a scattered team find focus, connect individual efforts to the bigger picture, and create a culture of accountability and ambition.
Sarah’s team didn’t become perfect overnight, but they became sharper, more aligned, and ultimately more impactful. And that’s what OKRs are really about: moving from good intentions to measurable results.
So if your team feels scattered, try starting with one objective. Pair it with a few key results. Check in weekly. See how it changes the way you think and work.
You might be surprised at how powerful a little clarity can be.
