How to Write OKRs: A Step-by-Step Guide

Last verified: February 2026

Overview

Writing effective OKRs is a skill that improves with practice. The best OKRs are focused, measurable, and inspire teams to aim higher than business-as-usual. This guide walks through the process step by step.

Step 1: Start with the Objective

An Objective answers: What do we want to achieve?

Good Objectives are:

• Qualitative — no numbers in the objective itself
• Inspirational — something worth rallying around
• Time-bound — achievable within a quarter
• Actionable — the team can influence the outcome
• Concise — one sentence, easy to remember

Good Examples:

• "Become the most trusted brand in our category"
• "Build a world-class onboarding experience"
• "Establish our team as thought leaders in AI safety"

Bad Examples:

• "Increase revenue by 20%" (this is a Key Result, not an Objective)
• "Do various marketing things" (too vague)
• "Maintain current performance levels" (not ambitious)

Step 2: Define Key Results

Key Results answer: How will we know we achieved the Objective?

Each Key Result should be:

• Quantitative — includes a specific number or metric
• Measurable — you can objectively verify it
• Difficult but possible — a stretch, not a certainty
• Outcome-oriented — measures results, not activities

Write 2-5 Key Results per Objective. The sweet spot for most teams is 3.

Good Key Results:

• "Increase NPS from 32 to 50"
• "Reduce time-to-first-value from 14 days to 3 days"
• "Achieve 40% organic traffic growth quarter-over-quarter"

Bad Key Results:

• "Launch new feature" (binary, not measurable on a scale)
• "Send 100 emails" (activity, not outcome)
• "Make customers happier" (not quantifiable)

Step 3: Apply the 70% Rule

OKRs are stretch goals. If your team consistently hits 100%, your targets aren't ambitious enough. The benchmark:

• 0.0–0.3 — Failed to make meaningful progress
• 0.4–0.6 — Made progress but fell short
• 0.7–1.0 — Strong performance (0.7 is the sweet spot)

This means when writing Key Results, set the target at what would represent a genuine stretch. If you're confident you'll hit it, the target is too low.

Step 4: Limit Your OKRs

Fewer is better. Guidelines:

• Company level: 3-5 OKRs per quarter
• Team level: 3-4 OKRs per quarter
• Individual level: 2-3 OKRs per quarter (if used)

If everything is a priority, nothing is.

Step 5: Write the Full OKR

Combine it all into a clear format:

Objective: Build a world-class customer onboarding experience

• KR1: Reduce time-to-first-value from 14 days to 3 days
• KR2: Increase 30-day activation rate from 45% to 75%
• KR3: Achieve onboarding NPS of 60+ (currently 38)

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Writing tasks as Key Results — "Launch feature X" is a task. "Achieve 30% adoption of feature X" is a Key Result.
2. Too many OKRs — 3-5 per team maximum. Focus creates impact.
3. Sandbagging — Setting easy targets defeats the purpose of OKRs.
4. Setting and forgetting — OKRs need weekly check-ins to stay relevant.
5. Tying OKRs to compensation — This kills ambition. Keep them separate.

How Krezzo Helps

Krezzo provides guided OKR creation with built-in best practices. The platform helps teams write better objectives, validate key results, and track progress with weekly check-in workflows — preventing the common pitfalls that derail OKR programs.

Sources

• Doerr, John. Measure What Matters. Penguin, 2018.
• Wodtke, Christina. Radical Focus. Cucina Media, 2016.
• krezzo.com