# Business objectives and key results > How to turn business objectives into OKRs with key results that measure outcomes, the common ways OKRs go wrong, and version 2 of CatChow's roadmap with its full “why” layer. - Course: [Outcome-Based Product Roadmaps](https://productovi.com/courses/outcome-based-roadmaps.md) - Module: The why behind the roadmap - Lesson 6/15, ~43 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/outcome-based-roadmaps/objectives-and-key-results ## The day before the board **Alex Tutor:** Big week on CatChow's product team: your roadmap goes in front of the board. **Sofia:** The board meets tomorrow. The vision opens the first slide. The second one is the objectives, and Ian thinks they look thin. **Ian:** Two objectives, one number each. Someone will ask how we'll know by spring that we're on track, not next December when it's too late. **Alex Tutor:** He's asking for key results. A common way to write them down is **OKR**: objectives and key results. The objective says in words what you want to achieve. The key results show how you'll know you got there. **Sofia:** So “grow subscription revenue by keeping subscribers longer” is the objective, and “churn from 9% to 6%” is a key result? **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. A **key result** is a measurable outcome with a baseline and a target. Two to four per objective, so one number doesn't have to carry the whole story. **Sofia:** Churn alone isn't enough? **Alex Tutor:** Churn is a lagging number: by the time it moves, months have passed. Pair it with signals that move earlier, like the share of cancellations that cite running out. That one reacts within weeks. ![On a sailing ship, the heavy hull is only starting to turn while the small weathervane on the mast has already swung round with the wind.](https://productovi.com/courses/outcome-based-roadmaps/inline/objectives-and-key-results-illustration-2.webp) *Pair slow numbers with signals that move first.* **Alex Tutor:** One step back first: between the vision slide and the objectives sits the strategy. Which sentence is a strategy choice? > **Exercise:** Which statement is a **strategy** choice, rather than a vision, a key result or a feature? > **Exercise:** Which of these is a **key result**, rather than an objective or an output? ## Outcomes, not tasks **Brandon:** Can my key result be “launch the clinic ordering portal by June”? That's something I can show PurrPoint. **Sofia:** That's an output with a date. We've met a few of those. **Alex Tutor:** Right. A key result measures a change, not a delivery. If the portal launches and clinics still run out, the key result is green and the problem is still there. **Brandon:** So what do I put instead? **Alex Tutor:** What should be different at PurrPoint if it works? Fewer stock-outs, fewer phone orders. Measure those. The portal is one way to get there; the pilot will show whether it's the best one. **Sofia:** And where do all the “launch” items go? **Alex Tutor:** Under the themes as candidate solutions, and into the release plan once chosen. Quick test: if you can tick it off while nobody's behavior has changed, it's a task. > **Exercise:** “Launch the clinic ordering portal by June” is a good key result, because it is specific and has a date. **Alex Tutor:** Ian wants to know by spring. Which number will tell him? > **Exercise:** Both are key results for “keep subscribers longer”. Which one will show the board **by spring** whether the work is helping? **Alex Tutor:** Churn is something CatChow watches anyway. So what's the difference between a number you watch and a key result? > **Exercise:** Which of these is a **KPI** CatChow keeps an eye on, rather than a key result for next year? ## Where the baseline comes from **Sofia:** For the clinics I want a key result about phone orders. But nobody knows how many there are. “Every week, one clinic at a time” is all we have. **Alex Tutor:** Then don't invent a number. A key result without a real baseline is a guess with a percent sign. ![A person about to paint a mark high on a wall stops and instead unrolls a measuring tape from the floor, notebook in hand.](https://productovi.com/courses/outcome-based-roadmaps/inline/objectives-and-key-results-illustration-3.webp) **Sofia:** Should I drop it? **Alex Tutor:** No. Make measuring it the first step. The two pilot clinics can count their phone orders for a month; then you set the target on real numbers. **Alex Tutor:** And keep the source next to every baseline, like in your input summary. If a number covers only one month, say so. > **Exercise:** Brandon, the key account manager, suggests a key result: “Clinic admins spend less time ordering.” Nobody has measured how much time they spend now. What is the best next step? ## Key results for the clinics **Sofia:** Let me list the ones we can measure today: partner clinics from 54 to 80, all 14 PurrPoint clinics kept, stock-outs from 6 a month to 1. **Alex Tutor:** Good mix. The number of clinics is the lagging one; stock-outs move first, and PurrPoint tells you whether the biggest client stays. **Lucy:** And the warehouse replacement? It's months of my team's work, and no customer will ever see it. Does it get a key result? **Alex Tutor:** Not as “replace the warehouse system”: that's an output. But it's what lets stock-outs fall and 80 clinics be served. Link it to those key results, and everyone sees why it matters. **Sofia:** So enabling work is judged by the key results it unlocks. ## How OKRs go wrong **Lucy:** At my last job we had thirty OKRs, cascaded from the CEO down to every team. We spent more time updating the spreadsheet than building anything. **Alex Tutor:** Two classic failures at once. Too many objectives means no priorities. And cascading copies top-level numbers down without asking teams what they can actually move. ![A waterfall of paper sheets cascades from a top desk down through tiers of desks; the workers at the bottom are buried under copies.](https://productovi.com/courses/outcome-based-roadmaps/inline/objectives-and-key-results-illustration-4.webp) **Sofia:** What's the better way? **Alex Tutor:** Two or three objectives. Leadership sets them, teams propose the key results they can influence, and the two meet in the middle. Then check that every key result measures a change, not a task. **Sofia:** Output key results, too many OKRs, cascading from the top. Is there a fourth? **Alex Tutor:** Tie them to pay, and people set targets they know they can beat. We'll come back to that one. I suspect Ian is about to ask. ## Committed or aspirational **Sofia:** Eighty clinics feels like a stretch. Losing PurrPoint would be a disaster. Are those really the same kind of target? **Alex Tutor:** No. Many teams separate committed key results, which they expect to hit in full, from aspirational ones, where getting about 70% of the way is already a good result. **Sofia:** So PurrPoint is committed, and 80 clinics is aspirational. **Alex Tutor:** That's how I'd mark them. Say it on the slide, or the board will read every number as a promise. **Sofia:** Like a disclaimer, but for numbers. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. Set the key results for next year and check them every quarter. If quarterly OKRs appear later, they should be checkpoints towards these, not a new list. > **Exercise:** CatChow can't afford to lose any PurrPoint clinic, while 80 partner clinics is a stretch nobody is sure about. How should Sofia mark these two key results? **Alex Tutor:** Before Ian joins, a quick check on Lucy's list: which failure causes which symptom? > **Exercise:** Match each common **OKR** failure to the symptom it causes. **Alex Tutor:** Ian is about to suggest something for the board. What would it do to the OKRs? > **Exercise:** If CatChow ties the team's bonuses to hitting the key results, what is the most likely effect? **Alex Tutor:** One more look at the clinic objective: which key results would you actually put on the slide? > **Exercise:** Which of these are good key results for the objective “Grow the vet clinic channel”? Select all that apply. ## A key result for the pilot **Alex Tutor:** Back to Brandon's portal. He still needs something for PurrPoint, and the clinic theme still needs a key result that shows the pilot is working. **Sofia:** Stock-outs are already there. What else would show that clinics restock without phoning us? **Alex Tutor:** The share of their orders that arrive without a call. Today that's zero, so here you do have a baseline. **Sofia:** And the target? Everything online within a year sounds unrealistic. **Alex Tutor:** Then make it aspirational and say so. Write the key results so that PurrPoint's admins would recognize their own week in them. > **Exercise:** Rewrite Brandon's “Launch the clinic ordering portal by June” as 1–2 key results that measure outcomes, each with a baseline and a target, and mark each one committed or aspirational. ## Ian and the bonuses **Ian:** I like it. One idea for the board: let's tie the team's bonuses to hitting these key results. Nothing motivates like money. **Sofia:** That's the fourth failure. How do I tell the CEO no the day before the board? **Alex Tutor:** Don't argue with the motive: he wants people to care. Show what would happen instead: safe targets, no bad news reported, aspirational key results quietly dropped. **Sofia:** And offer something instead? **Alex Tutor:** Yes. Keep performance reviews separate from OKR scores, and reward honest reporting and what the team learns. Two or three sentences: he's the CEO. > **Exercise:** Ian wants to tie the team's bonuses to hitting the key results. Write Sofia's reply to him (2–3 sentences): acknowledge what he wants, explain the risk and offer an alternative. ## Roadmap, version 2 **Alex Tutor:** Now put the “why” layer together: the inputs, the vision with its value proposition, and the objectives with key results. That's version 2 of the roadmap. **Sofia:** The themes and timeframes stay as they are? **Alex Tutor:** For now. In the next module we'll rebuild the themes from customer needs. Today, just make sure every theme moves at least one key result. **Sofia:** And if I can't measure something yet, I say so. **Alex Tutor:** Yes. An honest gap is better than an invented number, especially in front of a board. > **Exercise:** Write the “why” layer of CatChow's roadmap, version 2. ## What to remember **Sofia:** Tomorrow Ian can answer “why these two?” with inputs, “where are we going?” with the vision, and “how will we know?” with key results. **Alex Tutor:** That's the whole “why” layer. The board gets reasons it can check, not just a plan. > **Key ideas** > > - **OKR** pairs two or three qualitative **business objectives** with 2–4 measurable **key results** each. > - A key result measures a change, with a baseline and a target. “Launch X” is an output: it belongs under a theme or in the release plan. > - Pair lagging numbers such as churn with signals that move earlier; if a baseline is missing, measure it first instead of inventing it. > - OKRs go wrong when key results are outputs, when there are too many, when they are cascaded without the teams and when they are tied to pay. > - Mark key results committed or aspirational, so nobody reads a stretch target as a promise. **Alex Tutor:** That wraps up module 2. In module 3 we'll go from needs to themes: journey maps, the opportunity solution tree and job stories, then timeframes and confidence. - Previous lesson: [Product vision and value proposition](https://productovi.com/courses/outcome-based-roadmaps/product-vision.md) - Next lesson: [Customer needs as themes: an opportunity solution tree](https://productovi.com/courses/outcome-based-roadmaps/customer-needs-as-themes.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.