Engineering OKRs

OKRs are quickly gaining popularity as a goal-setting framework. But, it's not always easy to know how to write your goals, especially if it's your first time using OKRs.

To aid you in setting your goals, we have compiled a collection of OKR examples customized for Engineering. Take a look at the templates below for inspiration and guidance.

If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read more about the meaning of OKRs online.

Examples of OKRs for Engineering

The examples have Engineering Objectives and Key Results, but they may also include the tasks that can help you get there.

You'll find 5 OKRs examples for Engineering below, and some extra tips to write better quarterly plans at the end.

OKRs to improve engineering performance and reliability

  • ObjectiveBuild a world-class infrastructure
  • Key ResultIncrease Apdex above 0.95
  • TaskCache requests wherever possible
  • TaskIdentify and resolve to 5 application bottlenecks
  • Key ResultReduce build time to be under 5 minutes
  • TaskAudit test suite to reduce duplicates
  • TaskSwitch to a more performing build infrastructure
  • Key ResultOur stress tests show that we can support 10,000 concurrent users

OKRs to reduce technical debt

  • ObjectiveReduce significantly the technical debt in our platform
  • Key ResultDedicated 20% of our sprint effort to tackling technical debt
  • Key ResultClose 40 issues tagged as technical debt
  • Key ResultBoost application performance by 40% as a result of the debt culling

OKRs to improve the quality of the data

  • ObjectiveSignificantly improve the quality of the data
  • Key ResultReduce the number of data capture errors by 30%
  • Key ResultReduce delay for data availability from 24h to 4h
  • Key ResultClose top 10 issues relating to data accuracy

OKRs to reduce the cost of integrating data sources

  • ObjectiveReduce the cost of data integration
  • Key ResultDecrease the time to integrate new data sources from 2 days to 4h
  • TaskMigrate data sources to Segment
  • TaskCreate a shared library to streamline integrations
  • Key ResultReduce the time to create new dashboards from 4 days to <1h
  • TaskAdopt BI tool to allow users to create their own dashboards
  • Key Result10 teams have used successfully a self-serve dashboard creation system

OKRs to improve engineering release cycles

  • ObjectiveSignificantly increase the speed of our development cycle
  • Key ResultImprove developer NPS from 20 to 60
  • Key ResultReduce build times from 25 to under 5 mins
  • Key ResultReduce cycle time from 28 days to 6 days
  • TaskImplement CD pipeline for the staging environment
  • TaskAutomate all deployment steps

Not seeing what you need?

You can use a goal-setting AI to generate great OKRs for you based on a description of your objectives.

How to track your OKRs?

It's important to establish a cadence of check-ins for your OKRs for Engineering.

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.

Most teams should start with a spreadsheet if they're using OKRs for the first time. Then, once you get comfortable you can graduate to a proper OKRs-tracking tool.

Check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.

OKRs resources

Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.