3 Simple Rules to Automate OKR Tracking
Making weekly check-ins lightweight, informative and less time consuming.
👋 Ciao, Alex here. Welcome to a new free edition of Not Just Bits, and thank you to all the readers and those who support my work. Every week, my objective is to share lightweight and informative resources for CTOs.
3 Simple Rules to Automate OKR Tracking
If you're reading this, you're likely either currently working with OKR or have previously worked with it. I won't repeat here why you should use OKRs, how to write them, or the main differences between OKRs, KPIs, or similar metrics.
Numerous books explain what OKRs are and how they differ from other ways of doing things. Most of what you find online about OKRs are guides on setting the right objectives or measurable key results. However, simply setting OKRs is not enough to guarantee success. In fact, it's crucial to ensure you have regular check-ins for tracking progress and identifying blockers.
While the progress tracking of OKRs is crucial, it's often discussed less. From different organisations trying out OKRs, from those that are really mature to those just starting to figure it out, I've seen a common pattern:
Teams often struggle to figure out a good way to track how OKRs are progressing without it feeling like extra paperwork that's only looked at every few months.
It's with this in mind that I decided to share my learning to ensure that the progress of OKR check-ins is lightweight, informative, and less time-consuming.
Rule 1: Avoid Spreadsheets
Using spreadsheets to track OKRs may seem like a simple and cost-effective solution, but it comes with pitfalls. Clear progress and visuals are also the strengths of OKRs, and while you might be tempted to start with spreadsheets, this may not be the best visualization option, potentially decreasing the overall engagement with the framework.
Collaborating with spreadsheets does happen, but maintaining historical data can be tough. Quite often, you end up reusing the same cells and overwriting old data.
I'd recommend trying something like Asana, Workpath, Profit, or Tability.
Rule 2: Reduce Manual Data Entry
By directly extracting the necessary information for updating progress, the tools I discussed earlier can save you time and effort. They offer integrations with popular data sources such as Hubspot, Jira, Asana, or your databases. This means you can concentrate your weekly check-in call on topics of importance.
Minimizing manual data entry not only cuts time spent on updating OKRs but also, through integrations with Microsoft Teams or Slack, enables you to automatically inform stakeholders when check-ins are complete, or to request additional manual input when fully automated scoring is not achievable.
Rule 3: Standardise Reporting
Formulate standard templates for OKR check-ins to ensure consistency and smooth the reporting process. This step reduces the effort needed to manually format and structure information. For measurable Key Results, establish a consistent method of calculating progress. For example, the below formula can be used to calculate the percentage of progression relative to the initial value of your metric for a Key Result (KR):
Furthermore, to provide a more context-based evaluation of calculated progress and the remaining time until the end of the quarter, you can assign the following confidence levels:
🔴 Off Track: Shows that progress is less than expected, and action is needed.
🟡 At Risk: Indicates the Key Result is at risk and might need extra monitoring and changes to get back on course.
🟢 On Track: Confirms the Key Result is progressing well towards the target.
For me, having a clear, intuitive understanding of the current situation of projects is key. If you prefer, you can also use a numerical confidence level, much like the example below.
Conclusion
In essence, the adoption of automation and standard processes not only simplifies tracking progress with OKRs but also reduces friction. This combination transforms OKR check-ins into a more straightforward, informative and time-saving activity. It enables teams to focus on the core tasks, making their goals more attainable in a proactive and efficient manner.
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See you next week! Best, Alex Di Mango