Short answer
OKRs (objectives and key results) are a way to set goals that people can check.
- Objective: where you want to go. Short, qualitative, a bit ambitious.
- Key Results: two to five numbers that prove you got there. Measurable, with a deadline.
Objective: Make the store profitable on paid traffic
Key Results: MER from 2.1 to 3.0 by end of Q2
CAC under $45
Repeat purchase rate from 18% to 25%The method was popularized by Intel in the 1970s and later by Google (see John Doerr's What Matters), which is why it shows up in every startup handbook.
Why it matters
Without OKRs, "grow the business" turns into everyone doing reasonable work in different directions. An OKR forces two useful decisions:
- What matters this quarter, and therefore what doesn't.
- What "done" looks like, in numbers, before the work starts.
For a client project, OKRs also make conversations easier. "Did the redesign work?" becomes "did conversion rate go from 1.8% to 2.4%?" instead of a debate about whether the new homepage feels better.
How to write a good one
- Key results are outcomes, not tasks. "Launch the new checkout" is a task. "Checkout completion from 55% to 65%" is a key result. The checkout launch is how you might get there.
- Keep it short. One to three objectives per team per quarter. Ten objectives means no objectives.
- Ambitious but checkable. Many teams treat hitting about 70% of a stretch key result as a good quarter. If you always hit 100%, the targets were too safe.
- Review on a schedule. Weekly check-in, quarterly reset.
Example
dontdoit runs a stripped-down version of this. Each project has exactly one current objective with a measurable target and a date, and the task list for that project only contains work that serves it. Anything else goes to a backlog.
One real objective: 10 people other than the founder publish a profile on IKI and use it in a real job search or client pitch by 2026-12-31. It's a single key result with a number and a deadline, and it makes it easy to say no to features that don't move it.
That's the honest small-team version: one objective, one number, and a polite "not this quarter" for everything else.
Often confused with
- KPI (key performance indicator): a number you track all the time, like CAC or MER. A KPI is the dashboard; an OKR is a decision to move one of those numbers by a date. Many key results are KPIs with a target attached.
- SMART goals: a checklist for writing one goal well (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). OKRs are a system for a team's few most important goals, and their key results usually meet SMART criteria.
- A to-do list: if every key result starts with a verb like "launch", "build" or "write", it's a to-do list wearing an OKR costume.