Lesson 3: How to Communicate OKRs 

In our last lesson, we talked about how to set OKRs, and discussed the concept of an “OKR Champion”. Having a single person responsible for managing the OKR process for your team helps to ensure that the team can focus on achieving the desired results, without having to worry about how the stakeholders around them are kept up to date on progress.

We also talked about how often to set and review OKRs, with a focus on short feedback loops and being able to shift focus quickly if needed.

Along with managing the process by bringing together the right people to define and work on OKRs, the OKR champion needs to think about how to communicate with the rest of the organization. While this sounds straightforward, there are multiple facets to be communicated.

The OKR Process

To help OKRs work in the best way possible, it’s a good idea to ensure everyone understands what they are, and the benefits of using them. This is particularly the case in organizations where OKRs are (mistakenly) seen as a way of measuring employee performance. There is value in spending time/effort on educating stakeholders on what to expect from the use of OKRs, especially around alignment and focus (which in turn should result in better results). Time spent on setting expectations will reduce time spent on misunderstandings in the future.

With OKR definition, review, and measurement following a regular cadence, it’s a good idea to ensure a shared understanding of what will be required from those involved. Key stakeholders will need to discuss upcoming OKRs, define them in time for the next reporting period, identify data sources, surface results, and report back to the organization at regular (potentially very frequent) intervals. Results need to be reported in a location that is accessible by the whole team, to ensure full visibility, and it may be appropriate to have regular (if short) meetings for everyone to get a full picture of what’s happening.

As with any new process, its success will partly depend on how well it is understood, and whether individuals know how they are expected to contribute. Before beginning the use of OKRs, communication of expectations and responsibilities needs to happen, and the appointment of an OKR Champion can help.

Working with OKRs

OKRs are designed to ensure alignment, so communication about what to align around is important. After all, it’s difficult to align around something you don’t know about!

When planning how to communicate, consider several different methods to ensure maximum visibility. At ProdPad, we document our OKRs within ProdPad itself, making use of the dedicated section of the app. This means we’re also able to link our OKRs directly to the roadmap so that we can ensure our roadmap initiatives are linked to our goals to give us those O(I)KRs we talked about in lesson 1. OKRs are front and center, and a part of how work is prioritized, rather than hidden away and forgotten.