3 OKR examples for Software Engineers

What are Software Engineers 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.

Creating impactful OKRs can be a daunting task, especially for newcomers. Shifting your focus from projects to outcomes is key to successful planning.

We have curated a selection of OKR examples specifically for Software Engineers to assist you. Feel free to explore the templates below for inspiration in setting 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 Software Engineers 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.

Software Engineers OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Software Engineers Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).

Hope you'll find this helpful!

OKRs to mitigate the risk associated with software maintenance

OKRs to achieve promotion to software engineer 3

OKRs to implement efficient test automation processes

Software Engineers 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.

Save hours with automated OKR dashboards

Your quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly if you want 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

We recommend using a spreadsheet for your first OKRs cycle. You'll need to get familiar with the scoring and tracking first. Then, you can scale your OKRs process by using 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 Software Engineers OKR templates

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

• OKRs to enhance the efficiency and resilience of our IT infrastructure
  it-infrastructuredisaster-recoveryit-managernetwork-administratorit-operations-teaminfrastructure-support-team
• OKRs to streamline business structure and set timeline for team's objectives
  business-structuregoal-settingauditordepartment-headinternal-audit-teamdepartment-teams
• OKRs to enhance knowledge and literacy through weekly book reading
  literacy-enhancementreading-habitbook-readerhabit-builderpersonal-development-teamliteracy-advancement-team
• OKRs to enhance efficiency of month end reporting process
  efficiency-enhancementreporting-automationprocess-improvement-strategistdata-accuracy-auditordata-entry-teamreport-generation-team
• OKRs to improve quality assurance processes in 10-day timeframe
  quality-assurancebug-identificationquality-assurance-managersoftware-testerquality-assurance-teamsoftware-development-team
• OKRs to increase Internal Customer NPS
  internal-customer-experiencenet-promoter-scorecustomer-support-teamemployee-training-facilitatorquality-control-teaminternal-communication-team