10 OKR examples for Cloud

What are Cloud OKRs?

The OKR acronym stands for Objectives and Key Results. It's a goal-setting framework that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s, and it became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s. OKRs helps teams has a shared language to set ambitious goals and track progress towards them.

Crafting effective OKRs can be challenging, particularly for beginners. Emphasizing outcomes rather than projects should be the core of your planning.

We've tailored a list of OKRs examples for Cloud to help you. You can look at any of the templates below to get some inspiration for your own goals.

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

Building your own Cloud OKRs with AI

Using Tability AI to draft complete strategies in seconds

While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here.

You can use Tability's AI generator to create tailored OKRs based on your specific context. Tability can turn your objective description into a fully editable OKR template -- including tips to help you refine your goals.

See it in action in the video below 👇

Using the AI generator, you can:

• Chat with an AI to draft your goals
• Ask questions or provide feedback to refine the OKRs
• Import the suggestion in an editor designed for goal setting
• Switch back to a goal-tracking view in 1-click

Try Tability AI

Using the free OKR generator to get a quick template

If you're just looking for some quick inspiration, you can also use our free OKR generator to get a template.

Unlike with Tability, you won't be able to iterate on the templates, but this is still a great way to get started.

Our Cloud OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Cloud Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).

Hope you'll find this helpful!

1. OKRs to implement Cloud-Ready Applications

2. OKRs to efficiently eliminate the existing datacenter to minimize costs

3. OKRs to develop a cloud-based SAAS loyalty product

4. OKRs to develop and implement an efficient cloud strategy

5. OKRs to increase efficiency and scalability through cloud deployment

6. OKRs to enhance scalability and efficiency of deployed cloud systems

7. OKRs to implement effective cloud cost management and budget alignment strategies

8. OKRs to implement efficient cloud automation systems

9. OKRs to enhance cloud efficiency while managing costs

10. OKRs to enhance implementation of cloud platform monitoring and observability

Cloud 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

The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the 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

Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.

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 Cloud OKRs

OKRs without regular progress updates are just KPIs. You'll need to update progress on your OKRs every week to get the full benefits from the framework. 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

We recommend using a spreadsheet for your first OKRs cycle. You'll need to get familiar with the scoring and tracking first. Then, you can scale your OKRs process by using a proper OKR-tracking tool for it.

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 Cloud OKR templates

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

• OKRs to enhance IT service delivery with 30% faster response time
  it-servicefaster-response-timeit-supportoperations-managerit-service-deskoperations-team
• OKRs to strengthen change management proficiency across the organization
  change-managementtrainingproject-managertraining-facilitatorproject-implementation-teamstaff-training-team
• OKRs to successfully create a detailed taxonomy for CMS migration
  cms-migrationtaxonomy-structurecontent-managertraining-coordinatorcontent-management-teamtraining-team
• OKRs to improve efficiency in meeting accounting deadlines
  accounting-deadlinestime-managementaccountantaccounting-supervisoraccounting-teamquality-assurance-team
• OKRs to enable smooth first country's rollout through comprehensive hypercare
  hypercarerisk-managementrisk-management-officerstaff-trainerrollout-teamtraining-team
• OKRs to boost employees' mastery in top five key competencies
  employee-developmentcompetency-traininghuman-resource-managertraining-and-development-managerhuman-resource-teamtraining-and-development-team