Lobkovich No-BS OKRs Framework

// When should you use the Lobkovich No-BS OKRs framework?

Use this skill whenever a team, individual, or organisation needs to set goals for a quarter or annual cycle, especially when prior goal-setting has produced confusion, overwhelm, or a laundry list of metrics that nobody acts on.

// What do you need before writing your OKRs?

• Team or role contextrequired
  Who is setting the OKRs? (e.g., product team, creative team, individual strategist, whole organisation)
• Goal cyclerequired
  What time period are these OKRs for? (e.g., Q2, annual, 90-day sprint)
• Strategic challenge or focus arearequired
  What is the team wrestling with or trying to move the needle on this cycle? Describe the current situation, key tensions, and what 'winning' looks like.
• Available data signals
  What metrics, surveys, or behavioural signals does the team already track or could start tracking?
• Known constraints or burnout/compression risks
  Any organisational pressures, resource limits, or sustainability concerns that should shape the OKRs.

// What are the core principles behind No-BS OKRs?

// How do you build a No-BS OKR set step by step?

1. 1

   Identify the Theme

   Choose a short keyword phrase (2–4 words) that names the strategic territory this OKR set addresses. Examples: 'Product and Customer Experience', 'Creative Sustainability', 'Revenue Growth'. The theme should be instantly recognisable to anyone on the team and should reflect the core tension or opportunity for this cycle.

2. 2

   Draft the Objective

   Write an ambitious statement of shared purpose using the formula: [Action] + [what you are creating/achieving] + [why it matters / what it enables]. The objective must be directional and inspirational, not measurable. Test it against the question: 'Does this tell us what's most important AND why it matters?' If it reads like a metric or a to-do item, rewrite it. Avoid weak verbs like 'support' or 'help' — use strong directional verbs like 'create', 'establish', 'transform', 'build'.

3. 3

   Draft the Outcome Key Result

   Identify the single most important measurable outcome that would signal this objective is being achieved. Format: [Metric] + [direction] + [magnitude] + [from X to Y] + [by when]. Example: 'Increase weekly active user retention by 30 points from 45% to 70% within 90 days of launch.' This should feel ambitious — the team influences it but may not fully control it. That tension is intentional and healthy.

4. 4

   Draft the Progress Key Result

   Identify one measurable process or workflow improvement that, if achieved, would meaningfully support the Outcome Key Result. This is not the big outcome — it is a leading indicator or enabler. Format follows the same [metric] + [from X to Y] + [by when] structure. Example: 'Decrease average user path to value completion from seven clicks to three clicks by end of Q2.' Ask: 'If we hit this, does it make the outcome more likely?'

5. 5

   Draft the Target Behavior Key Result (if applicable)

   If the team lacks instrumented data for a signal that matters, identify a behaviour or spontaneous feedback pattern that can be counted. Format: 'Increase/decrease the frequency of [specific observable behaviour or verbatim signal] from [X] to [Y] per [time unit].' Example: 'Increase frequency of users spontaneously mentioning ease of use or intuitive in product feedback from zero to five per week.' This key result builds the measurement muscle before richer metrics exist. Use it when you are in a data-sparse environment.

6. 6

   Stress-test the full OKR set

   Run the following checks: (1) Does the objective answer 'what's most important and why does it matter?' — not just what? (2) Do ALL key results describe outcomes or progress, with zero activity or output language? (3) Is the set small enough to create genuine focus — not a list of everything the team cares about? (4) Are the key results objectively measurable — could two different people observing the same data agree on whether the target was hit? (5) Does the set feel ambitious but not fabricated? If any check fails, revise before finalising.

7. 7

   Confirm the goal cycle and assign the OKR set

   State explicitly which cycle (quarter, year, 90-day sprint) this OKR set governs. Confirm team ownership. The OKR should then move from slides into everyday operations and decisions — it is a working tool, not a planning artefact. Schedule regular check-ins where the key results are reviewed against current data and inform prioritisation decisions.

// What do strong No-BS OKR sets look like in practice?

// What mistakes should you avoid when writing OKRs?

• Setting key results that describe activity or outputs (what the team will do) rather than outcomes or progress (what will be measurably true as a result). If a key result starts with 'conduct', 'run', 'hold', or 'deliver', it is almost certainly an activity, not a key result.
• Creating too many OKRs or too many key results per objective — this destroys the focus that makes No-BS OKRs work. More goals is not more strategy; it is less clarity.
• Writing objectives that are already measurable — objectives should be directional and purpose-driven, not metric-based. Measurability belongs entirely in the key results.
• Skipping the 'why it matters' component of the objective, leaving the team with direction but no shared sense of purpose or meaning to align to.
• Treating OKRs as a planning slide exercise rather than a living operational tool that informs daily decisions and prioritisation throughout the cycle.
• Avoiding Target Behavior Key Results because the signal feels 'soft' — in data-sparse environments, counting observable behaviours is a legitimate and powerful measurement approach.
• Assuming teams must have full control over a key result for it to be valid — influence is sufficient if the goal shapes how the team makes decisions.

// What are the key terms in the No-BS OKRs framework?

No-BS OKRs

Sara Lobkovich's flavour of the OKR methodology, designed for organisations wired for systemic change and innovation — stripping away bureaucratic implementation patterns to focus on genuine clarity, focus, and alignment.

Objective

An ambitious statement of shared purpose that gives direction and focus for the current goal cycle. Answers 'what's most important and why does it matter?' — directional, not measurable.

Key Result

An aspirational, objectively measurable target that clarifies the team's most important success and progress measures. Describes outcomes and progress, never activity.

Theme

A short keyword phrase (2–4 words) assigned to an OKR set to provide an instant, crystal-clear signal of the strategic territory the objective and key results address.

Outcome Key Result

A key result measuring a significant end-state the team is aiming for — ambitious, influenced by the team's work but not fully within their control.

Progress Key Result

A key result measuring a specific process or workflow improvement that serves as a leading indicator or enabler of the Outcome Key Result.

Target Behavior Key Result

A key result that counts the frequency of specific observable behaviours or spontaneous qualitative signals — used when instrumented business metrics do not yet exist for an important dimension of success.

Goal cycle

The defined time period an OKR set governs — typically a quarter or a year, sometimes a 90-day sprint.

Target-rich environment

A part of the business (e.g., sales, marketing, engineering) with abundant existing data, making metric selection plentiful but requiring mindset discipline to choose only the most important few.

Compression zone

The organisational position of teams (e.g., product) caught between competing stakeholder demands — customer needs versus internal technical or operational constraints — making goal-setting especially complex.

Energy scoring model

A self-assessment practice where team members rate their own energy or capacity on a defined scale, used as a Target Behavior Key Result to track team sustainability alongside client-facing outcomes.

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