Objective
Definition
An Objective is the qualitative half of an OKR: a short, memorable statement of what a team intends to achieve in the cycle. It contains no numbers. Its job is direction and motivation — the measurement belongs to the Key Results underneath it.
A good Objective is specific enough to rule things out and short enough to be quoted from memory in a meeting. Most teams write between one and three per cycle; a team carrying seven Objectives has effectively set none, because nobody can say which two matter when the week gets tight. Objectives are usually set for a quarter, though some organizations run annual company Objectives with quarterly team Objectives beneath them.
The most common failure is an Objective that is really a task list — 'Launch the new billing system' is something you either shipped or didn't, which leaves the Key Results with nothing to measure except completion. Naming the outcome the launch is meant to produce gives the Key Results somewhere to point.
Example
Weak: 'Ship the partner portal in Q3.' Stronger: 'Make partners self-sufficient without calling us.' The second admits several routes and lets Key Results measure whether partners actually became self-sufficient.
See also: OKR software