Before you publish a new set of objectives and key results (OKRs) to the company or take it to the board, war-game the draft. Test whether each objective has one owner, whether each key result measures a business outcome, whether the set is small enough to manage, whether any targets are set low to be safe, and what would justify changing them mid-cycle. Paste the draft, last cycle's results, the operating plan and budget, and the owner list into one request. Instruct Pingpong to test each objective and key result, read the set as a team lead, a director, and an owner six weeks in, and flag conflicts with the plan. Review your written answers in a second round.
This page is for chief executives, chief operating officers, and executive teams resetting company objectives for a new half or after a miss. Executive starting points live under Pingpong for executives.
Run four tests on the draft
- One owner: each objective has one executive accountable for it. Shared objectives become nobody's.
- Outcomes: each key result measures a change in the business. Features shipped and posts published belong in team plans.
- Count: few enough objectives that every employee can name them. Each one will multiply as teams write their own.
- Realistic targets: compare each target with last cycle's actual. A target below current performance needs a reason.
Read it as three people
A team lead on Monday morning. Can they tell which objective their work supports and what to stop doing?
A director at the board meeting. Does the set explain how the company recovers from last cycle's results and fits the approved plan and budget?
An owner at week six. If a key result is far off track, what is the rule for changing it, and who decides?
A worked example
This example is illustrative and does not describe a customer. A 300-person business software company missed its first-half revenue plan by 12%. The chief executive and chief operating officer draft second-half objectives: seven objectives with 26 key results, to be published at an all-hands meeting in two weeks and shared with the board the week after.
The chief operating officer pastes the draft, first-half results, the revised operating plan and budget, and the owner list.
A useful pass finds that "become the category leader" has no measurable key result. "Delight customers" is shared by the heads of product, customer success, and support. Several key results are activities: launch three features, publish 40 articles, run two customer events. The net revenue retention target is 105%, while the first half finished at 108%. One objective cuts burn by 20%, and another grows the enterprise sales team, with no headcount figure reconciling the two. Nothing connects the set to the revenue miss, which is the first question the board will ask. There is no rule for changing key results mid-cycle. With seven objectives, team leads would likely write well over 100 key results of their own.
The revised set has four objectives and 12 key results, each objective owned by one executive. Revenue recovery leads the set, tied to the plan's second-half bookings figure. Activity targets move into team plans. The retention target rises to 110%. Burn and enterprise hiring sit in one objective with a headcount cap. Key results change mid-cycle only if the board approves a new plan or a key result is more than half off target at week six for reasons outside the team's control. The chief executive and chief operating officer decide together and post the change for the company. The board receives one page mapping each objective to a line in the plan.
If the reset follows a change in the numbers themselves, see war-game the budget reforecast before you present the new numbers.
A request you can copy
Below are our draft objectives and key results, last cycle's results, our operating plan and budget, and the owner list. Check that each objective has one owner and each key result measures an outcome. Compare every target with last cycle's actual and flag any set below it. Flag objectives that conflict with each other or with the plan. Read the set as a team lead, as a director at the board meeting, and as an owner at week six, and check for a rule on mid-cycle changes. Stop there so we can answer in writing, then review our answers.
How Pingpong runs the review
The web review app sends your request through several models in order. Each later model receives the original request and every earlier answer, with instructions to assess the work so far. For the steps inside the app, see running your first review.
What a model can't review
A model does not know your teams' capacity beyond what you paste, or how employees will read the set. It can find gaps and conflicts in the draft. The executive team owns the objectives, and the board owns its view of the plan.
When the objectives go to the board, see war-game a decision before the board meeting. More guides live under work decisions before you commit.