Improve Alignment with an OKR Roadmap

Låt oss titta på skillnaderna mellan de två och hur du kan använda dem tillsammans.

OKR står för Objectives and Key Results. De används för att sätta upp mål och mäta framstegen mot att nå dem. De är per definition tidsbundna, specifika och ambitiösa.

OKRs are easy to digest, easy to communicate, and challenging to achieve. They provide a way for companies to tie each individual project or initiative to larger organizational goals.

OKR består av två komponenter:

• The Objective: Our goal – the outcome we want to achieve
• Viktiga resultat: Hur vi följer utvecklingen när vi uppnår dessa mål.

A key benefit of OKRs is their ability to create alignment between company strategy and the work teams deliver. They do this by clearly communicating team and corporate objectives. This makes it easier to identify and correct misalignment and ensures teams have a shared understanding of the company’s overall business objectives.

Färdplaner används för att kommunicera gruppers och intressenters riktning och mål genom att visuellt kartlägga allt arbete som ingår. Detta omfattar uppgifter, milstolpar och beroenden som kan stödja eller påverka företagets förmåga att nå sina mål.

Med andra ord är en färdplan en högnivårepresentation av det arbete som krävs för att nå ett mål.

Let’s look at how you can combine the two and use an OKR roadmap. But first, here are at some differences between the OKRs and roadmaps.

Can You Use OKRs Instead of Roadmaps?

Don’t look at it as an OKR vs. roadmap scenario. There is some overlap between OKRs and roadmaps, but the two tools serve different purposes. OKRs cannot replace roadmaps and vice versa.

OKRs are used to set strategic goals and illustrate what success will look like. Roadmaps, on the other hand, translate the strategy into a timeline of business outcomes and deliverables.

In many organizations, OKRs are set at the company level and also at the team level. For example, imagine that a subscription-based financial app wants to increase profitability. The company might set a strategic goal to increase revenues (objective) and develop three key results that will exemplify progress toward that objective, like this:

Objective: Increase recurring revenues over the next year.

Key Result 1: Convert at least 20% of existing monthly subscriptions to annual subscriptions.

Key Result 2: Reduce churn to less than 2% monthly.

Key Result 3: Increase the average number of seats by 20% for monthly and annual subscriptions.

At the team level, the OKRs would be even more specific. For example, the IT team may set a goal to increase uptime for the subscription app. The team’s OKR might look like this:

Objective: Achieve maximum uptime over the next three months.

Key Result 1: Hold a retrospective to determine the root cause every time we have an outage.

Key Result 2: Implement synthetic monitoring within the next three months to monitor app performance from the customer’s perspective.

Key Result 3: Design and communicate a feature release plan by year-end to ensure that all necessary parties are informed about upcoming releases before they are set to occur.

Where does the OKR roadmap come in?

In an effort to accomplish the overarching OKRs, each team will likely design individual projects or initiatives to get them there. At this point, a project roadmap would be helpful for setting direction and expectations for each project or initiative.

Roadmapping allows program and product managers, agile leaders, and other business planners to translate strategy into a timeline of business outcomes and deliverables. Roadmapping can be used to set direction and standards, as well as maintain clear communication throughout delivery of the project or initiative.

As these examples show, there’s no direct mapping between OKRs and roadmaps. But using the two together as an OKR roadmap can help teams stay on track and accomplish strategic goals.

Företag använder OKR för att fastställa riktningen för vart de vill gå och vad de vill uppnå. OKR-ramverket används för att identifiera och kommunicera organisationens stora, ambitiösa mål och mäta framgången när de arbetar för att uppnå dem.

In other words, OKRs establish the what and the why:

• Vilka hoppas vi uppnå?
• Varför har dessa mål hög prioritet?

If OKRs are the what and the why, roadmaps are the how and the when. As their namesake suggests, roadmaps are a big-picture visual map of how the organization will achieve its goals, in what order, and on what timeline.

• How do we plan to get from point A to point B?
• When do we plan to do this work, and in what order?

Genom att använda OKR och färdplaner tillsammans får man en fullständig bild. Detta kan bidra till att skapa en kortsiktig och långsiktig anpassning - genom att koppla samman vad och varför med hur och när.

There are several benefits that come from using roadmaps with OKRs.

Färdplaner passar perfekt in i OKR och kan fungera som stöd för dina OKR-resultat. Färdplaner hjälper dig att prioritera produkter, funktioner och arbete utifrån deras strategiska betydelse. På så sätt kan du fatta välgrundade beslut om vad du ska bortprioritera när du gör avvägningar.

Samtidigt kan OKR:er hjälpa dig att se till att du investerar i de prioriteringar som överensstämmer med dina strategiska mål.

OKR och färdplaner bidrar båda till att underlätta strategisk anpassning. Tillsammans ser de till att det blir verklighet.

OKR:er är användbara för att skapa en resultatbaserad strategi och leverans. Färdplaner är användbara för att visualisera planer, prioritera arbete och följa milstolpar. Ingen av dem är en lämplig ersättning för den andra, men de fungerar utmärkt tillsammans.

När de används tillsammans kan OKR och färdplaner bidra till att förbättra anpassningen och leveransen av värde. Bättre anpassning innebär att teamen tydligt förstår organisationens strategiska mål, vilket gör dem bättre rustade för att identifiera arbete som sannolikt kommer att ha en positiv inverkan.

Here are a few ways the OKR roadmap brings out the best in both tools.

• En fullständig bild av vad som är viktigt: OKR visar och prioriterar företagets viktigaste mål, medan färdplanen omvandlar dessa mål till arbete i form av uppgifter, milstolpar och beroenden. Detta är till hjälp när du hanterar resurser, gör avvägningar och prioriterar/avprioriterar arbete.
• Skapa anpassning mellan strategi och leverans: Färdplanen är användbar för att förbättra samarbetet och kommunicera projektets inriktning, medan OKR:er ger en tydlig bild av företagets mål - på så sätt kan strategin påverka leveranserna och vice versa.
• Improving efficiency and productivity: OKRs and roadmaps paint a complete picture of the goals and how teams can achieve those outcomes. This makes it easier for people to focus on the work that really matters
• Giving holistic representation of progress made: Track the progress made towards goals with OKRs while using your roadmap to see which milestones were reached, the tasks teams are working on, and what work remains

Eftersom OKR och färdplaner ger en fullständig bild av företagets mål (och hur de ska uppnås) bidrar de också till att förbättra teamets självständighet.

Grupperna kan utveckla sina egna processer samtidigt som de håller kontakten med företagets vision och strategiska riktlinjer.

These are just a few of the ways roadmaps and OKRs connect the what and why to the when and how – enabling greater alignment, visibility, and effectiveness throughout the enterprise.

Roadmaps work well with OKRs, especially when teams use their roadmaps as tools to support the OKR outcomes. Consider these three ways to use roadmaps to support your OKRs successfully.

Make your objectives part of your roadmap

Teams don’t need to simply focus on completing tasks; they need to focus on achieving specific outcomes that align with company objectives.

To do that, after defining your OKRs, you can make your objectives the default strategic themes on your roadmap. After your organization has agreed on OKRs, teams can create their own roadmaps that outline the specific tasks and milestones they’ll reach to achieve those objectives. A roadmap should provide a clear path for achieving the OKRs, while also being flexible enough to adjust based on changes in direction or new information.

Prioritize work within your OKRs

Being outcome-driven means prioritizing initiatives relevant to your OKRs. That means building roadmaps to accomplish the work that will move your organization closer to meeting its strategic goals. As you map out your initiatives, tie them to your OKRs. If a potential project or task does not match up with one of your agreed-upon OKRs, that project should be de-prioritized and replaced with one that is relevant to the organization’s OKRs.

Track your progress

Don’t just track progress by looking at what work has been completed on the project roadmap. In addition, measure your outcomes by tracking the progress of your OKRs. As you regularly assess OKR progress, you may need to adjust your roadmaps to ensure that the work you’re focusing on is the right work that will move your team and your organization closer to meeting its goals.

Using OKRs and roadmaps together can provide benefits for organizations, such as ensuring you focus on the right work to meet your goals more efficiently and effectively. To maximize the use of OKR roadmaps, consider these three best practices.

1. Don’t focus on outputs

It’s natural to focus on outputs when tracking a task roadmap. However, when working to tie the roadmap to OKRs, it’s better to focus on outcomes than outputs. That’s because the key results associated with your objectives are quantitative and can help you measure the impact of what the roadmap has delivered.

Key results align your team around the same outcomes to achieve the objective, and as a result, everyone is laser-focused on achieving those outcomes, as opposed to focusing on outputs.

2. Make your OKR strategy known at each level

An OKR roadmap needs to act as a North Star for your teams. The whole direction and focus of your teams should be represented in the roadmap, which is a visual and collaborative reference point for the work underway. To design a roadmap that can serve as a guiding North Star, you must define OKR strategy at each level of the company hierarchy, starting with your company’s goals. After defining how the strategy will play out at each level, your roadmap can use this as the connection point between your OKRs and the work items that are represented on your roadmap.

3. Stärk dina team

The most successful teams usually thrive by setting challenging goals that push them to their limits. Combining the OKR framework with lean roadmapping allows leaders to set ambitious goals that are achievable and measurable. The most important step is ensuring the OKRs are aligned with your roadmap so that the team is working toward a common goal.

Keep the team focused and motivated by regularly reviewing OKRs together and tracking your progress. Taking time to acknowledge progress and celebrate wins can help keep your teams engaged, focused and motivated to reach your agreed-upon objectives.

OKR och färdplaner är användbara var för sig, men när de används tillsammans får de fram det bästa av varandra. De är en dynamisk duo som kan underlätta strategisk anpassning, förbättra värdetillförsel, ge direkt synlighet för mål och målsättningar och förbättra teamets självständighet.

Now that we’ve discussed the benefits of roadmaps and OKRs, see how you can use the two together for better strategic alignment between strategy and delivery.

Access this on-demand webinar on OKRs and roadmaps to learn how to use them together to drive alignment and reach your key goals and objectives.