2 customisable OKR examples for Manual Testing

What are Manual Testing 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.

How you write your OKRs can make a huge difference on the impact that your team will have at the end of the quarter. But, it's not always easy to write a quarterly plan that focuses on outcomes instead of projects.

That's why we have created a list of OKRs examples for Manual Testing to help. You can use any of the templates below as a starting point to write your own goals.

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

Building your own Manual Testing 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 customisable Manual Testing OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Manual Testing 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 enhance the quality of software releases through manual testing

2. OKRs to improve proficiency in manual and automation testing

Manual Testing OKR best practices to boost success

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

Having too many OKRs is the #1 mistake that teams make when adopting the framework. The problem with tracking too many competing goals is that it will be hard for your team to know what really matters.

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.

Tability's audit dashboard will highlight opportunities to improve OKRs

Tip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins

Setting good goals can be challenging, but without regular check-ins, your team will struggle to make progress. We recommend that you track your OKRs weekly to get the full benefits from the framework.

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

Tability's check-ins will save you hours and increase transparency

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 turn your Manual Testing OKRs in a strategy map

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

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.

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 Manual Testing OKR templates

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

• OKRs to enhance innovation manager's mastery of business requirements
  business-requirementsinnovation-managementinnovation-managerbusiness-analystbusiness-analysis-teaminnovation-management-team
• OKRs to improve efficiency of QA triaging
  qa-triagingautomationqa-analystqa-managerqa-teamdevelopment-team
• OKRs to effectively generate quality data flow diagrams
  data-flow-diagramspeer-feedbackdiagram-designerdiagram-reviewerdiagram-design-teamdiagram-review-team
• OKRs to attain the position of Technical Program Management Director
  leadership-developmentcross-functional-project-managementtechnical-program-managerproject-team-leadertechnical-program-management-teamproject-management-team
• OKRs to enhance management of service and admin account life cycles
  lifecycle-managementautomationit-administratortraining-managerit-teamtraining-team
• OKRs to enhance Identity Access Management for large scale clients
  identity-access-managementlarge-scale-clientssystem-administratorapplication-developersystem-hardware-teamcustomer-support-team

OKRs resources

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

• To learn: What is the meaning of OKRs
• Blog posts: ODT Blog
• Success metrics: KPIs examples