What are Design Systems 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.
Crafting effective OKRs can be challenging, particularly for beginners. Emphasizing outcomes rather than projects should be the core of your planning.
We have a collection of OKRs examples for Design Systems to give you some inspiration. You can use any of the templates below as a starting point for your OKRs.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.
How to write your own Design Systems OKRs
Option 1. Turn ideas into OKRs with Tability AI
While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here.
You can use Tability's AI generator to create tailored OKRs based on your specific context. Tability can turn your objective description into a fully editable OKR template -- including tips to help you refine your goals.
- 1. Go to Tability's plan editor
- 2. Click on the "Generate goals using AI" button
- 3. Use natural language to describe your goals
Tability will then use your prompt to generate a fully editable OKR template.
Watch the video below to see it in action 👇
Option 2. Optimise existing OKRs with Tability Feedback tool
If you already have existing goals, and you want to improve them. You can use Tability's AI feedback to help you.
- 1. Go to Tability's plan editor
- 2. Add your existing OKRs (you can import them from a spreadsheet)
- 3. Click on "Generate analysis"
Tability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRsTability will scan your OKRs and offer different suggestions to improve them. This can range from a small rewrite of a statement to make it clearer to a complete rewrite of the entire OKR.
You can then decide to accept the suggestions or dismiss them if you don't agree.
Option 3. Use the free OKR generator
If you're just looking for some quick inspiration, you can also use our free OKR generator to get a template.
Unlike with Tability, you won't be able to iterate on the templates, but this is still a great way to get started.
Design Systems OKRs examples
We've added many examples of Design Systems Objectives and Key Results, but we did not stop there. Understanding the difference between OKRs and projects is important, so we also added examples of strategic initiatives that relate to the OKRs.
Hope you'll find this helpful!
OKRs to enhance application design by solution architect review
ObjectiveEnhance application design by solution architect review
KRConduct in-depth analysis of current application design flaws
Analyze identified flaws and their impacts on user experience- Identify potential areas of improvement in the application design
- Develop a plan to address and fix noted design flaws
- KRCollaborate with development team to propose and implement design improvements
- Draft proposed design improvements for team review
- Oversee implementation of agreed-upon design changes
- Organize meeting with development team to discuss design enhancements
- KRTrack and evaluate impact of design changes on overall system performance
- Analyze and document performance variations tied to design changes
- Monitor system performance before and after design changes implementation
- Run system testing for evaluating design modifications' effectiveness
OKRs to achieve product consistency with our design system
- ObjectiveEnsure product consistency with our design system.
- KRClose 50% of all design inconsistency tickets
- KR90% of our products are following the design system guidelines
- Establish a process for quickly and accurately identifying violations of design system guidelines
- Develop a system of rewards and recognition for those who adhere to design system guidelines
- Create an audit process to track adherence to design system guidelines
- KREstablish a comprehensive style guide that covers 100% of common components used by products
- Create a comprehensive list of all common components used by products
- Test the style guide against each component
- Develop a unified style guide for each component
- Implement the style guide into all products
OKRs to scale development with a design system
- ObjectiveEvery team can build interfaces autonomously
- KR80% of the teams are using the UI library to build new features
- Release UI kit MVP
- KRThe Design System covers 100% of common UI components
- List required components
- Build library of components
OKRs to streamline graphic design processes
- ObjectiveDevelop a self-serve graphic assets library for internal use
- KRDecrease the number of one-off design tickets by 50%
- KRMake our entire brand guideline available
- Design a useable Keynote template and share
- Make brand colors accessible on our internal wiki
- KRDevelop 12 templates Marketing can reuse to build targeted ads
- ObjectiveBuild a knowledge base and roll out graphics library
- KRRun 3 workshops with other teams explaining new library and how to work with designers
- KRCreate 2 knowledge base pages per week teaching team members how to work with our team
OKRs to ensure water-proof status of all line extenders and taps on cable system
- ObjectiveEnsure water-proof status of all line extenders and taps on cable system
- KRAchieve a failure rate of 0% due to water damage in cable system post-implementation
- Design cable systems resistant to water penetration
- Establish a comprehensive response plan for any water events
- Implement rigorous testing for water damage pre-deployment
- KRConduct comprehensive inspection on 100% of the cable system hardware by week 8
- Develop a systematic inspection plan for hardware check
- Assign and train personnel on inspection procedures
- Execute inspection and document results by week 8
- KRRepair or replace any non-waterproof line extenders and taps identified by week 10
- Initiate repair or replacement of non-waterproof items
- Determine if faulty items can be repaired or must be replaced
- Identify non-waterproof line extenders and taps by week 10
Design Systems 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 Design Systems OKRs
Quarterly OKRs should have weekly updates to get all the benefits from the 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
Spreadsheets are enough to get started. Then, once you need to scale you can use a proper OKR platform to make things easier.
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 Design Systems OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
- OKRs to implement an effective product science mentoring program
- OKRs to boost IDV completion success for business clientele
- OKRs to boost client engagement in our analytics services
- OKRs to ensure stringent adherence to established art guidelines
- OKRs to secure guest posts for enhanced brand visibility and thought leadership
- OKRs to hire top-level Senior UX Researcher