Operational Key Results

02 Aug, 2023

Definition

Objectives

Subjective/aspirational goal for improving business or customer outcomes

Key Results

Measurable means of showing progress towards achieving the objective

Key points

• Are aspirational
• Objectives aren't ALWAYS in our control but Key Results should be
• Can't have too many or teams cannot focus or feel misaligned to the objectives

Effective OKRs

• Goals must be clear
• Clearly define key results and track them along the way
• Should serve to stretch the team but still be achievable - meaning the team has to understand what they're doing and how they might achieve the thing
• OKRs must capture things you want to change, vs. KPIs which show how you're doing day-to-day
• Teams may not always have control over Objectives but should over Key Results

OKRs as a Metric

• Objectives are inspirational and aren't tied to metrices
• Key Results are impact-driven
  • How do you measure your impact?
  • Can use metrics but don't over-index on the metric and lose sight of the impact of the Objective
• Consider OKRs as a proxy to business impact rather than objective measurement of needle-moving

What Makes an OKR Not Work

• Tracking the wrong Objective
• Becoming fixated on the Objective and not the impact
• Choosing Key Results that don't actually add impact

Checklist for good OKRs

• Track the objective
• Deliver value
• Objectively measurable
• Resilient to scope change (ie, avoids commitment to specific solutions)
• Can yield partial results to avoid binary success
• Easy to understand for people without deep context to the team/org

Examples

• Objective: reduce the number of systems that have access to credit card numbers
  • KR: Implement asymmetric encryption of credit card for web users
• Objective: make it easier for customers to add credit cards to the native apps
  • KR: Reduce add instrument latency by 2 seconds
• Objective: reduce the number of false auth declines
  • KR: Update expiration date of 80% of cards due to expire by the end of calendar 2023
• Objective: reduce the number of failed releases
  • KR: Wallet Service performs automatic functional tests following deployment to Test Main
• Objective: reduce the cost of logging
  • KR: Retire use of OperationLogger in cassa applications
• Objective: reduce time spent supporting test environments
  • KR: Develop a self-service form to create test payment instruments