OKRs in Lattice

At VSHN, we track our Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in Lattice using the Goals Module. These are some things to keep in mind, when working with OKRs in Lattice:

General

  • You create Objectives (the "O" in OKRs) and then add Key Results (the "KR" in OKRs) to them. So an Objective has one or more Key Results.

  • An Objective can have one parent objective - at the moment only one (hard limitation of Lattice). Usually you select one Company Level Objective as parent for your Team Level Objective.

  • Key Results can be binary (basically yes/no), absolute number (from X to Y) and as a percentage.

  • Every objective and every key result needs at least one Owner (can be multiple), this is also called Champions in OKR in general. The owners manage the OKRs and update progress, for example entering a new number on the Key Result they own on a weekly basis.

  • OKRs are assigned to Company (Company Level) a Department (Team Level) or Group (VSHN Work and Interest Groups Level).

Permissions

  • You can create and manage OKRs for Departments or Groups you’re part of. This is configured in Employee (User) Management of Lattice by an admin.

  • Company Level OKRs can only be created and managed by people with the needed permission (in our case Management Team).

  • Objectives and Key Results can be edited anytime, even when published already.

Creating OKRs

  1. Navigate to Goals in the left navigation bar of Lattice.

    lattice create okrs1

  2. Click Create in the top right of Lattice and select Objective.

    lattice create okrs2

    1. In What do you want to accomplish? copy & paste the Objective title/summary from your Team OKR Workshop miro board (or other source where you consent to it as a team)

    2. Click Add description and copy & paste the description "Why is this Important". This field needs to explain how your Objective contributes to the higher level objectives of VSHN.

    3. In Work toward another goal at the company click Choose goal.

      1. Use the filter Company goals to only see Company Level Objectives, then select the company level goal your objective primarily contributes to. Unfortunately you can only select one.

  3. In Details click Edit and:

    lattice create okrs3

    1. Select the correct cycle, the quarter of the objective.

    2. Make sure start and due dates correspond with quarter.

    3. Select one or two Owners (Owners aka Champions of the Key Results comes separately, later).

    4. Select the Type, for Team Level this is either Department or `Group' and select your Team or Group.

    5. Always leave visibility Public - everyone VSHN employee can see it.

    6. Choose the Priority of your objective. P1 = highest / first priority.

You can directly proceed adding Key Results on this page. It’s suggested to Publish at this point and add Key Results in the next step, because sometimes Lattice stops working and you need to start from scratch.

Adding Key Results

  1. Navigate to Goals in the left navigation bar of Lattice.

  2. Find your objectives using the filters. Usually the Department quick filter should show your objectives.

    lattice create kr1

    1. Click on an objective and then click Insert key result.

  3. In What do you want to accomplish? copy & paste the title/summary of a Key Result from your Team OKR Workshop miro board (or other source where you consent to it as a team)

  4. Click Add description and add any information that is helpful for everyone to have the same understanding of this KR and how you as a team measure (get the numbers) progress.

  5. In How will you measure progress select the type of this Key Result.

    1. This is the most important step of defining a Key Results. Sometimes it’s unclear at this point and you need to decide in the team, how you will actually get the numbers, what the start and end number is, etc.

    2. Start means where are you now (actually get the current number as of today and enter it here) and End is your target.

  6. Press Edit in the Details section.

    1. Check the Goal cycle`, needs to be same as the Objective.

    2. The start and due dates can be different (start later or due earlier), but need to be within the same cycle (quarter). Depends on what you want to do.

    3. Add your Champions from the Team OKR Workshop as Owners.

    4. Type should already be the same as Objective, check and fix if it’s not.

    5. Visibility needs to be Public.

    6. Select Priority if you have defined it.

  7. Press Publish.

That’s it, repeat this for all your other Key Results.

Update and Manage OKRs

During an OKR cycle, managing and updating means basically three things:

  • The Champions / Owners of your Key Results update the progress.

    • Enter the current number where you are.

    • Give it a Green, Amber or Red rating for "On Track", "Blocked", "Off Track" (see description in Lattice).

  • If you can’t measure KRs, if they become obsolete or you discover new ways of measuring progress towards your objective you might want to change KRs.

    • Add additional KR.

    • Update the End number (Target) because it changed.

    • Rephrase KR or make description more clear.

  • The Owners of an Objective give the whole objective a Green, Amber or Red rating.

Update Objective Progress

  1. Navigate to Goals in the left navigation bar of Lattice.

  2. Find your objectives using the filters. Usually the Department quick filter should show your objectives.

  3. Click on the objective and then click Update Progress.

    1. Add a description of what changed, what progress you made in What’s new?.

    2. Give it a Green, Amber, Red rating.

Optionally you can directly update the KRs here or see below.

Update Key Result Progress

  1. Navigate to Goals in the left navigation bar of Lattice.

  2. Find your objective using the filters and click on an objective. Usually the Department quick filter should show your objectives.

    lattice update kr1

  3. Click on the Key Results below the objective and then click Update Progress.

    lattice update kr2

    1. Add a description of what changed, what progress you made in What’s new?.

    2. Enter the current number where you are at, either as Increment or Total in What’s the new amount? (this depends on the Type of KR).

    3. Give it a Green, Amber, Red rating.

  4. Press Post update.

All updates can be seen in the history of your Objectives and Key Results, also you can’t edit an update, but you can make another update anytime.

VSHN specific guidelines

  • Do not make major changes to Objectives during an OKR cycle (quarter for the team level).

  • Involve Delegator when making major changes to Key Results.