1 OKR example for Academic Research

What are Academic Research OKRs?

The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.

Creating impactful OKRs can be a daunting task, especially for newcomers. Shifting your focus from projects to outcomes is key to successful planning.

We have curated a selection of OKR examples specifically for Academic Research to assist you. Feel free to explore the templates below for inspiration in setting your own goals.

If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.

How to edit and track OKRs with Tability

You'll probably want to edit the examples in this post, and Tability is the perfect tool for it.

Tability is an AI-powered platform that helps teams set better goals, monitor execution, and get help to achieve their objectives faster.

With Tability you can:

Use AI to draft a complete set of OKRs in seconds
Connect your OKRs and team goals to your project
Automate reporting with integrations and built-in dashboard

Instead of having to copy the content of the OKR examples in a doc or spreadsheet, you can use Tability’s magic importer to start using any of the examples in this page.

The import process can be done in seconds, allowing you to edit OKRs directly in a platform that knows how to manage and track goals.

Step 1. Sign up for a free Tability account

Go tohttps://tability.app/signup and create your account (it's free!)

Step 2. Create a plan

Follow the steps after your onboarding to create your first plan, you should get to a page that looks like the picture below.

Step 3. Use the magic importer

Click on Use magic import to open up the Magic Import modal.

Now, go back to the OKR examples, and click on Copy on the example that you’d like to use.

Paste the content in the text import section. Don’t worry about the formatting, Tability’s AI will be able to parse it!

Now, just click on Import from text and let the magic happen.

Once your example is in the plan editor, you will be able to:

Edit the objectives, key results, and tasks
Click on the target 0 → 100% to set better target
Use the tips and the AI to refine your goals

Step 4. Publish your plan

Once you’re done editing, you can publish your plan to switch to the goal-tracking mode.

From there you will have access to all the features that will help you and your team save hours with OKR reporting.

10+ built-in dashboards to visualise progress on your goals
Weekly reminders, data connectors, and smart notifications
9 views to map OKRs to strategic projects
Strategy map to align teams at scale

Building your own Academic Research OKRs with AI

While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. You can use our free AI generator below or our more complete goal-setting system to generate your own OKRs.

Our Academic Research OKRs examples

You'll find below a list of Objectives and Key Results templates for Academic Research. We also included strategic projects for each template to make it easier to understand the difference between key results and projects.

Hope you'll find this helpful!

1. OKRs to elevate productivity in academic research

ObjectiveElevate productivity in academic research
KRImplement and maintain a research schedule, ensuring minimum 5 hours of effective work daily
Draft a dedicated 5-hour daily research schedule
Regularly evaluate and adjust schedule for effectiveness
Implement routine to follow the established research schedule
KRSubmit two high-quality research pieces for publication review
Conduct comprehensive research on chosen topics
Submit papers for publication review
Write and edit two research papers
KRAttend at least 3 professional development workshops related to research methods or practices
Ensure participation in each workshop attended
Register for the chosen professional development workshops
Identify suitable workshops focused on research methods

Use this OKR

Academic Research OKR best practices

Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.

Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇

Tip #1: Limit the number of key results

Focus can only be achieve by limiting the number of competing priorities. It is crucial that you take the time to identify where you need to move the needle, and avoid adding business-as-usual activities to your OKRs.

We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.

Tip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins

Having good goals is only half the effort. You'll get significant more value from your OKRs if you commit to a weekly check-in process.

Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.

Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row

Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples above). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.

As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.

Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.

How to track your Academic Research OKRs

The rules of OKRs are simple. Quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly, and yearly OKRs should be tracked monthly. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:

It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
It will highlight poorly set OKRs
It will surface execution risks
It improves transparency and accountability

Spreadsheets are enough to get started. Then, once you need to scale you can use a proper OKR platform to make things easier.

Tability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRs

If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.

More Academic Research OKR templates

We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.