3 customisable OKR examples for Timelines

What are Timelines 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 Timelines 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.

Building your own Timelines OKRs with AI

While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. You can use our free AI generator below or our more complete goal-setting system to generate your own OKRs.

Our customisable Timelines OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Timelines 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!

1. OKRs to improve accuracy and timeliness in invoice processing

2. OKRs to significantly improve the timeliness of projects

3. OKRs to successfully finish financial statement within the required timeline

Timelines OKR best practices to boost success

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.

Tability's audit dashboard will highlight opportunities to improve OKRs

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.

Tability's check-ins will save you hours and increase transparency

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 turn your Timelines OKRs in a strategy map

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

Most teams should start with a spreadsheet if they're using OKRs for the first time. Then, once you get comfortable you can graduate to a proper OKRs-tracking tool.

Tability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRs

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 Timelines OKR templates

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

• OKRs to enhance client success and retention in North America
  client-churncustomer-satisfactioncustomer-service-representativesclient-success-managerscustomer-service-teamclient-success-team
• OKRs to achieve flawless back-end development for the SMIT Gate project
  back-end-developmentdatabase-structureback-end-developerdatabase-administratordevelopment-teamdatabase-management-team
• OKRs to enhance workforce competence through continuous development and upskilling
  continuous-developmentupskillingtraining-manageremployee-performance-assessorhuman-resourcestraining-&-development
• OKRs to efficiently migrate services and databases to Google Cloud
  google-cloud-migrationcost-optimizationit-project-managercloud-solutions-architectcloud-migration-teamit-infrastructure-team
• OKRs to enhance Safety Layout Design and Processes - Level 4
  safety-featurespersonnel-trainingsafety-layout-designersafety-trainersafety-layout-design-teamsafety-training-team
• OKRs to ensure successful implementation and utilization of the ticket system
  ticket-systemuser-adoptionit-project-managerit-operations-managertechnical-support-teamit-project-team

OKRs resources

Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.

• To learn: What is the meaning of OKRs
• Blog posts: ODT Blog
• Success metrics: KPIs examples