Abstract
Most teams are new to OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), and some are thrown into the deep end with the mere instruction, “We must use OKRs now.”
Writing good OKRs is hard. Setting meaningful objectives, crafting key results and putting numbers against them is important.
Join Allan to overcome any initial blockers, and experience and practice writing OKRs that effectively cover the next three months and produce meaningful improvements.
Target audience
Are you in charge of setting OKRs for others? Or are you one of those who “need” to use OKRs because someone decided to? Whether you’re a leader or part of the team using OKRS – this workshop is for you.
Some of the roles that will benefit from this workshop the most:
- managers of all descriptions,
- product owners and managers,
- Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches,
- analysts and team members included in the processes,
- aspiring leaders who are expected to be using OKRs now or in the future.
Attendees are expected to already be familiar with the core ideas behind OKRs. This training course will not cover what OKRs are or why they might be used.
Topics
- The nature of objectives and key results, what makes a good objective, what they are not, and why objectives are subjective,
- Objectives in the organizational context and goals-within-goals,
- Rules of thumb for writing OKRs,
- How to measure key results, how to put numbers against intangible results and quantify changes,
- Refining OKRs with feedback,
- The difference between leading and lagging indicators, the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Agenda
The workshop is a single 3-hour online block, with some chill-out time at the end.
- Reviewing example OKRs,
- Writing Objectives – and what makes a good objective,
- Writing Key Results – and how to quantify key results,
- Identifying measuring tools for key results,
- Using OKRs in an agile setting: an API for the team and bottom-up OKRs rather than top-down management objectives.
Learning objectives
- How teams and individuals with limited experience will learn to write good OKRs to cover the next 3 months
- Creating good OKRs with measurable key results
- What a good objective looks like and how to create one
- How to compose measurable key results which describe the objective outcome
- How to interpret OKRs in an agile-compatible way.
Expect to get your hands dirty – How does it work
Attendees will practice writing objectives and measurable key results in the workshop. In addition, you will learn the important skill of reviewing OKRs and the role of conversations and feedback.
This workshop alternatives between group work and exercises – like writing Objectives – and debriefing on activities. Time is roughtly split evenly between the two.
The workshop will happen online and in live streaming: the trainer and all other participants will be in a video conference. You’ll be interacting and working together in real-time thanks to a variety of tools you’ll have at your disposal.
The workshop will keep its highly interactive and hands-on spirit despite being online.
This is why we require that all participants keep their webcam on for the whole duration of the workshop: this will enhance the quality of the communication and of the workshop as a whole.
You won’t be sitting at your desk watching slides and videos, and you’ll be engaged in real-time activities for the majority of the time… as if we were in a real classroom!
Why should you buy a ticket
OKRs are set four times a year, and each set directs work for 13 weeks, so why not invest a few hours to improve every set? Good OKRs demand numbers in the right places, and this is where most newcomers (but not only) struggle.
Writing good OKRs is hard. Leaders and teams struggle to define clear objectives and measurable key results. Too often, they end up writing to-do lists. Break this anti-pattern and learn to do it right.
