2 OKR examples for Lead Software Developer

What are Lead Software Developer 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.

Formulating strong OKRs can be a complex endeavor, particularly for first-timers. Prioritizing outcomes over projects is crucial when developing your plans.

We've tailored a list of OKRs examples for Lead Software Developer to help you. You can look at any of the templates below to get some inspiration for your own goals.

If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.

The best tools for writing perfect Lead Software Developer OKRs

Here are 2 tools that can help you draft your OKRs in no time.

Tability AI: to generate OKRs based on a prompt

Tability AI allows you to describe your goals in a prompt, and generate a fully editable OKR template in seconds.

• 1. Create a Tability account
• 2. Click on the Generate goals using AI
• 3. Describe your goals in a prompt
• 4. Get your fully editable OKR template
• 5. Publish to start tracking progress and get automated OKR dashboards

Watch the video below to see it in action 👇

Tability Feedback: to improve existing OKRs

You can use Tability's AI feedback to improve your OKRs if you already have existing goals.

• 1. Create your Tability account
• 2. Add your existing OKRs (you can import them from a spreadsheet)
• 3. Click on Generate analysis
• 4. Review the suggestions and decide to accept or dismiss them
• 5. Publish to start tracking progress and get automated OKR dashboards

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.

Lead Software Developer OKRs examples

You'll find below a list of Objectives and Key Results templates for Lead Software Developer. We also included strategic projects for each template to make it easier to understand the difference between key results and projects.

Hope you'll find this helpful!

OKRs to enhance tactical and strategic leadership skills for software developer team lead

OKRs to drive productivity and take the lead in software development initiatives

Lead Software Developer 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

Having too many OKRs is the #1 mistake that teams make when adopting the framework. The problem with tracking too many competing goals is that it will be hard for your team to know what really matters.

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

Setting good goals can be challenging, but without regular check-ins, your team will struggle to make progress. We recommend that you track your OKRs weekly to get the full benefits from the framework.

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.

Save hours with automated OKR dashboards

OKRs without regular progress updates are just KPIs. You'll need to update progress on your OKRs every week to get the full 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 Tability to save time with automated OKR dashboards, data connectors, and actionable insights.

How to get Tability dashboards:

• 1. Create a Tability account
• 2. Use the importers to add your OKRs (works with any spreadsheet or doc)
• 3. Publish your OKR plan

That's it! Tability will instantly get access to 10+ dashboards to monitor progress, visualise trends, and identify risks early.

More Lead Software Developer OKR templates

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

• OKRs to enhance incident identification and reporting for better operational transparency
  incident-identificationoperational-transparencyoperations-managerincident-response-managerincident-response-teamoperations-team
• OKRs to execute budget computation each Monday
  budget-computationoperational-efficiencybudget-managerfinance-team-memberbudget-management-teamfinance-team
• OKRs to expand understanding of commissioned projects
  commissioned-projectsindustry-seminarsseminar-attendeecase-study-analystresearch-teaminterview-coordinating-team
• OKRs to establish an efficient 30-day onboarding program for new hires
  onboardingemployee-satisfactiononboarding-specialisttraining-development-managerhuman-resourcestraining-and-development
• OKRs to enhance overall customer experience
  customer-satisfactioncomplaint-reductioncustomer-service-representativequality-assurance-specialistcustomer-service-teamquality-assurance-team
• OKRs to accelerate client acquisition through our lead magnet
  lead-magnetclient-acquisitionmarketing-managercontent-strategistmarketingcontent-strategy