Objective Roadmapping

Of Objectives and Key Results (OKR)

The OKR approach is all about accomplishing long-term, overarching, ambitious business goals (Objectives) through smaller, more specific, measurable sub-goals / milestones (Key Results). Key Results are always tied to a concrete Objective and each has several associated Tasks (specific activities that must be performed to reach the Key Result).

Essentially, an Objective answers where we want to go, Key Results explain how we’ll know we're getting there, and Tasks list the steps necessary to get there. As such, OKR has been widely used and adopted by all sorts of organizations, including Google, Uber, LinkedIn, Zynga, etc. It’s a powerful framework that enforces the kind of strategy and management that always keeps the overarching goal in mind. 

Since every Task is connected to its Key Result and each Key Result - to its Objective, any activities or plans you’re trying to set are bound to help you meet your objective. This helps avoid situations where managers and employees get so overwhelmed with day-to-day minutiae they lose sight of what the company’s trying to achieve in the long run. And this is why setting correct goals based on a roadmap is important.

How to use OKRs

You can use this approach on a personal, team, or company level. But no matter the level, OKR works more or less the same:

1. Determine an Objective that is ambitious, clear, and achievable - it should be the main focus of your organization.
2. Under your Objective, set 3-5 Key Results - milestones on your path toward the Objective.
3. Communicate your Objectives and Key Results to the entire team and assign relevant Tasks to employees.
4. Monitor results regularly and update your OKR accordingly.
5. Consider your Objective achieved when about 75% of the Key Results are met. This step may be somewhat unintuitive, but the idea is that an Objective that has been 100% achieved was not ambitious enough, to begin with.

Examples of OKR

Why OKR Needs Objective Roadmapping

It is not easy to choose a single main Objective. You need to set your priorities straight, filter your goals by importance, and say No to all but one of them. This decision is difficult to make - most will either fall into analysis paralysis or just pick a random objective, hoping to figure it out later, rather than set goals based on a roadmap. 

And yet, deciding on an objective is also the pivotal step of OKR. Everything you do after that point revolves around the overarching goal you chose. By prioritizing objectives, you grant your managers and employees more transparency, focus, and contribution. So don’t underestimate the importance of properly determining your objective and don’t cut any corners there. Setting goals based on a roadmap is just the thing that might help.

Roadmapping as a Process

They say that the process of roadmapping is more important than the roadmap itself. That’s not to undermine the usefulness of roadmaps as a strategic tool, as will be described in the following. But in the process of creating a roadmap (usually in the form of workshops), teams build consensus, which helps them mediate the strategic dialogue. 

Developing a thorough business roadmap is an ongoing process. Sometimes it will take you hours, sometimes - years (considering that a strategy should be kept relevant, be subject to challenge and change). Don’t worry, the latter won’t be the case in our discussion of setting goals based on a roadmap. We will use roadmapping as a starting point of the OKR process that you will further manage within KeepSolid Goals. 

Benefits of the roadmapping process

Some confuse roadmapping with other processes like innovation or strategy management, likely due to their common and visible integrative nature. However, the distinction is important - roadmapping can have a very limited impact by itself, but it works wonders as a support for other business processes. That’s why we consider it such a great supplement for the Objectives and Key Results approach. 

Another benefit of roadmapping is how simple its core principles are, helping you deal with complex systems and business challenges. Roadmapping is also a useful diagnostic - it reveals what’s good and bad about your business, uncovering any problems and hidden opportunities. This is especially true for the first iteration of roadmapping. This is why we’ll only need this first iteration to set goals based on a roadmap.

Roadmapping as a Tool to Set Goals

Roadmapping is a flexible management tool that facilitates innovation and invigorates your strategy-building process. Having originated in high-tech sectors, roadmapping is now commonly applied beyond them, including business and corporate sectors. Whenever it’s used, businesses demonstrate improved performance and product innovation.

The roadmap forms a structured visual framework, supporting communication and goal alignment. It’s a scalable platform and a very flexible approach to planning your overarching Objective. Setting goals based on a roadmap provides a purpose and clear, concise format. 

How to Write a Roadmap to Base Goals On

Effective roadmapping supports other key business tools and processes, and associated information flows. It aligns decision-making, stakeholder perspectives, and resource allocation. 

Without roadmapping, it’s easy to set an objective that has little to do with what your business really needs. With a goal-based roadmap, however, your objective will be based on your understanding of the six fundamental strategic questions:

1. Where do we want to go?

The answer to this question is what most people will immediately jump to when asked to determine an Objective as part of OKR. For example, you want your business to have a revenue of $X- that’s the point in the future that you want to get to. 

2. Where are we now?

An important thing that a lot of managers overlook when planning is the current context. You must know both the destination and your starting point to draw a proper roadmap. Continuing our example, before you decide how to make $X of revenue, take a look at how much your business is currently making (we’ll call it $C).

3. How can we get there?

Now, we connect the two dots. The gap between your target revenue of $X and your current revenue of $C is what you should focus on. This gap is basically your Objective in regards to the OKR approach. However, there are still some important questions to answer before we’re done with roadmapping!

4. Why do we need to act?

This step depends on your specific business context the most. But in general, you must figure out why exactly you need to reach the Objective. Even with the most self-explanatory goals like increasing revenue, why you need it (how it correlates with your long-term strategy) is important.

5. What should we do?

This question is all about understanding your market, business and commercial drivers, opportunities, and the overall context. This will help you set better Key Results on the OKR stage and make it clear what kind of KPIs you should monitor.

6. How can we do it?

The previous step predetermines your Key Results; in turn, this final step does the same for the last component of OKR - Tasks. You establish your core path to your Objective and what specific activities, solutions, and resources your organization needs to traverse it.