What are OKRs and why do they matter when developing a digital product?
Developing a digital product is usually a serious investment. Naturally, the goal is that the money spent should lead to a meaningful return.
So how do you make sure a website, platform or app is developed in a results-driven way? And how do you avoid spending time and money on features and ideas that are not aligned with the original goals of the project?
OKRs help you stay focused
Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) are a performance management framework used to set goals together, measure progress and align priorities. The method originated at Intel, was popularised by Google and is widely used across the tech world and beyond.
The principle is simple and effective: Objectives are qualitative goals for a defined period, for example a quarter. They describe the outcome you want to move towards. For example:
"There is more engagement with the content on our website."
"We reach more millennials with our message."
"The phone helpdesk is relieved by better online information."
That sounds useful, but it also raises a practical question: how do you know whether you are actually getting there?
That is where Key Results come in. Key Results are measurable indicators that show whether you are making progress on your Objective. For the engagement example above, suitable Key Results could be:
The average time spent on an article increases from 20 to 40 seconds.
The average number of times our articles are shared on social media each week increases from 200 to 500.
The average number of reactions on blog posts per week increases from 50 to 75.
The idea is to set ambitious Key Results. If you hit roughly 70% of the target, you are usually doing well.
Suppose the outcome looks like this:
KR 1 rises from 20 to 30 seconds (50% of the target).
KR 2 rises from 200 to 425 (75% of the target).
KR 3 rises from 50 to 75 (100% of the target).
The final score for the Objective then becomes:
(0.5 + 0.75 + 1) / 3 = 0.75
That means you can reasonably conclude that the Objective has been achieved. More importantly, it makes progress visible and helps teams make decisions based on measurable outcomes instead of assumptions.
That is exactly why OKRs matter in digital product development. They help teams stay aligned, prioritise better and keep product decisions connected to real goals.