OKR Scoring
Definition
OKR scoring is the practice of grading each Key Result on a 0.0 to 1.0 scale at the end of a cycle, based on how far the metric moved between its baseline and its target. The Objective's score is usually the average of its Key Results.
The score is a ratio, not a percentage of effort: a Key Result set to move a number from 20 to 60 that reached 40 scores 0.5. At Google, where the practice was popularized, an average around 0.6 to 0.7 is treated as the healthy range for ambitious goals, and consistently scoring 1.0 is read as a sign that targets were set too low rather than as excellence. The score is a conversation starter for the retrospective, not a performance rating.
Scoring only works if the numbers were being watched along the way. A grade assigned in the final week measures the quarter that already happened, which is why most frameworks pair scoring with a mid-cycle trajectory check — by the time a score exists, nothing about that cycle can still be changed.
Example
Key Result: lift win rate from 22% to 35%. Actual at quarter end: 29%. Score: (29 − 22) ÷ (35 − 22) = 0.54.
See also: OKR software