2 Development Cycle OKR examples with initiatives

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What are Development Cycle OKRs?

The OKR acronym stands for Objectives and Key Results. It's a goal-setting framework that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s, and it became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s. OKRs helps teams has a shared language to set ambitious goals and track progress towards them.

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 Development Cycle 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.

Development Cycle OKRs examples

We've added many examples of Development Cycle 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 product quality by reducing production defects

ObjectiveEnhance product quality by reducing production defects
KRDecrease production defects by 30% through tightened quality control processes
Train staff on the new quality standards
Implement stringent quality control measures in the production line
Regularly inspect and update production equipment
KRConduct training sessions for QA team to enhance in-depth product knowledge
Identify key product aspects for the QA team to understand deeply
Schedule and facilitate product knowledge training sessions
Develop comprehensive training materials/briefs for each aspect
KRImplement a new, more thorough testing protocol within the development cycle
Research and adopt a comprehensive testing method
Educate development team about new protocol
Identify the weak spots in the current testing protocol

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OKRs to rapidly shorten time to revenue and time to market cycle

ObjectiveRapidly shorten time to revenue and time to market cycle
KRIncrease sales conversion rates by 10% with optimized marketing activities
Improve website layout for better user accessibility and engagement
Implement data-driven strategies to improve sales pitches
Develop targeted marketing campaigns for potential customers
KRReduce product development cycle by 20% through process improvement
Implement lean practices for streamlined production
Identify inefficiencies in the current product development cycle
Measure effectiveness and refine adopted strategies
KRImplement expedited go-to-market strategy to deliver products 15% faster
Develop targeted and timely marketing campaigns
Enhance distribution channels for quicker delivery
Identify ways to streamline product development process

sales-conversion expedited-go-to-market marketing-manager product-development-manager sales-and-marketing product-development

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How to write your own Development Cycle OKRs

1. Get tailored OKRs with an AI

You'll find some examples below, but it's likely that you have very specific needs that won't be covered.

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 OKRs

Tability 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.

Development Cycle 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 Development Cycle OKRs

Your quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly in order to get all the benefits of the OKRs 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 Development Cycle OKR templates

We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.

2 OKR examples for Development Cycle