The Key Results should be pure measurements of the success of the objective. They should not be confused with breakdowns/subprojects/different streams supporting the objective.

E.g. if the KPI is “$10M in sales” and the Objective is “Boost E-commerce sales” then:

  1. Good Key Results are “sold $1M via E-commerce channel”, “Won 1000 new paying customers in E-Commerce” and “Maintained profit margin in E-commerce at 30%”.
  2. Bad Key Results would be “Integrated Shopify for E-Commerce”, “Hired an E-commerce manager” and “Updated Google AdWords campaign for E-Commerce ads”. This breakdown should occur not in the key results, but in the cascading of the OKR downwards in the organization.

About Midstage Institute

We focus our practice on midstage startup companies that need to remain agile, and where what used to work for the smaller startup just isn’t as effective anymore.

 

We ensure founders and leadership teams win, with our over 40 years experience in venture-backed tech startups. We are Silicon Valley veterans with the scars and wins to prove it. We don’t use an inflexible off-the shelf methodology, we adapt best practices to you, your market, your company, and your leadership team.

 

We always:

  • Focus on right sized best practices to get to the next level
  • Focus on the 20% of effort that will yield you 80% of the benefits
  • Teach Perfection is the enemy, better is your partner and ally
  • Align with your business needs so you can thrive