OKR Mistakes to Avoid

When you start to use a new goal setting method or any new system in your team, it is easy to make mistakes. Here, you’ll see how to avoid the most common OKR mistakes.

Luckily, most common mistakes can be avoided, when you plan ahead and think things through. You need to make sure, you know what you are getting into and what OKRs are. And what they are not.

Still, you shouldn’t expect that you can do everything perfectly the first time you try it. Implementing and using OKRs can take many tries. You should not be discouraged if you don’t succeed with OKRs the first time.

Having too many OKRs means, you will not be able to focus on any of your goals nor deliver everything that you have planned

Objectives	Key Results per Objective	Total KRs
3	3	9
4	4	16
5	5	25

It’s a lot better to prioritize your goals before setting OKRs and focus on 9 things rather than try to focus on 25.

One of the main problems with any sort of goal setting technique is that after a lot of effort has been put into designing and shaping goals, people forget them and only remember them when they are due. OKR methodology addresses this problem with constant monitoring.

The progress toward Key Results should be measured weekly to see how much has been done. If a week has passed and you’ve got no progress, there is a problem that should be addressed by the team leader and the person responsible for the goal.