3 OKR examples for Software Engineers

What are Software Engineers 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 Software Engineers 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 Software Engineers 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 Software Engineers OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Software Engineers 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 mitigate the risk associated with software maintenance

2. OKRs to achieve promotion to software engineer 3

3. OKRs to implement efficient test automation processes

Software Engineers 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 Software Engineers OKRs

Your quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly in order to get all the benefits of the OKRs 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 Software Engineers OKR templates

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

• OKRs to establish efficient global operational setup
  global-operationsstaff-trainingoperations-managertraining-coordinatoroperations-teamtraining-and-development-team
• OKRs to elevate campaign quality and maintain consistency across all platforms
  campaign-quality-improvementengagement-rate-increasecampaign-managercontent-strategistmarketing-teamdesign-team
• OKRs to streamline and improve existing patch management system
  patch-managementsoftware-integrationsystem-administratorpatch-management-specialistit-operations-teamsoftware-development-team
• OKRs to improve efficiency of payroll processing metrics
  payroll-processingautomated-time-trackingpayroll-specialisttraining-coordinatorpayroll-teamtraining-team
• OKRs to elevate WorldFirst brand globally on social platforms
  global-brandingsocial-media-engagementsocial-media-managercontent-strategistmarketing-teamsocial-media-team
• OKRs to master English language skills
  english-language-learningself-improvementenglish-language-learnerenglish-language-teacherenglish-language-learners-groupenglish-language-speakers-club