OKR – The 10 common mistakes:
1. OKRs are not ambitious enough.
Ask yourself if your OKRs are not just BAU (Business As Usual) monitoring/control. Otherwise, feel free to be more ambitious and get out of your comfort zone!
2. OKRs are not aligned with business strategy.
The team has established its own OKRs. But have you compared
them to the company’s strategic OKRs to ensure they
align?
3. OKRs are not clear enough.
To make OKRs clear and easy to understand, be sure to keep your wording simple. Remember that Less is more.
4. It lacks the resources to achieve OKRs.
Among the fundamental principles of OKRs is the fact that they must be achievable by the teams in place.
5. There are communication or collaboration issues in the team.
Here are some ideas: train ambassadors to promote collaboration, organize cross-functional meetings at mid-cycle, display OKRs transparently so that everyone can read them.
6. OKRs are not well monitored and evaluated.
For OKRs to work, it’s important to adopt discipline and consistency. Train ambassadors and involve the sponsor, referee and coach to lead by example and support their implementation.
7. OKRs are not properly integrated into business processes.
Integrate OKR tracks, review, retrospective, and design of new OKRs into existing meetings, such as PI planning, Sprint Review, or SCRUM retrospective, to facilitate implementation.
8. There are frequent changes in priority or direction.
If you see frequent changes that are not strategic, take the time to ask yourself the right questions. OKRs are few, but they represent the organization’s key ambitions.
9. OKRs are not tailored to the skills and resources of the team.
You may have set too many top-down goals that don’t reflect the reality on the ground. In this case, be sure to explain the organization’s vision and strategic OKRs, and encourage teams to come up with their own OKRs.
10. There is a lack of support from management.
Make sure your coach, sponsor and champions are involved in your OKR framework, as their support is critical to its success.
11. Bonus, you have too many OKRs :
You decided to follow everything with OKRs by conflating KPI and OKR. Review your OKRs and keep the ones most aligned with your one-year vision and ambitions.
In conclusion
It is essential to take the time to understand why you are unable to achieve your OKRs. Put in place measures to address these problems. This can include setting new goals, adjusting business processes, improving communication and collaboration within the team, etc.
