Leadership.

The framework

1. 01

   Write objectives as outcomes, not activities.

   A common OKR mistake: 'Launch the new marketing campaign.' That's an activity. The objective is what you're trying to achieve by launching it. Better: 'Establish DailyMBA as the default learning tool for UK professionals.' That's directional, motivating, and tests whether the campaign mattered. Objectives should answer: 'What would make us celebrate at the end of this quarter?' If the answer is 'we shipped it' rather than 'we changed something,' it's an activity.

2. 02

   Write key results as outcomes, not outputs.

   Key Results measure whether you achieved the Objective — not whether you did the work. 'Publish 10 blog posts' is output. 'Organic traffic grows from 2,000 to 8,000 monthly visits' is outcome. The distinction forces clarity on what actually constitutes success. It also surfaces when effort doesn't translate to impact — a Key Result that doesn't move despite all the work is telling you something about strategy, not execution.

3. 03

   Set at 70% confidence, not 100%.

   Andy Grove's original formulation: OKRs should be set hard enough that 70% achievement counts as success. If you hit 100% consistently, your objectives aren't ambitious enough. The 70% target creates psychological permission to attempt what you can't guarantee — which is how organisations take the risks that produce breakout results. A team that only attempts what it can promise will eventually be outrun by one that doesn't.

4. 04

   Build the cascade before the quarter starts.

   The alignment function is what separates OKRs from a list of goals. When individual contributors can see how their Key Results connect to team OKRs, and team OKRs connect to company OKRs, the organisation stops needing to coordinate by proximity — everyone can self-direct toward the shared outcome. Build the cascade before people are already in motion, not as a retrospective exercise.