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If you have been setting goals and pushing the limits that the world has set on you, you have probably heard of SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timely. IT is a fantastic framework to help make sure the goal you set makes sense.
Recently we have seen the attention span of individuals continue to erode and goal setting has made a major shift from Yearly Resolutions to 90-Day sprints. OKR’s, Objectives & Key Results, are a new way of looking at effort that helps make moonshots possible.
Probably the best, and most referenced, example is this talk from Google. One of the pioneers in using OKR’s to achieve massive organizational progress.
One of my key take aways is that Objectives should be big. Big enough that they may not be 100% achievable. I have always shot high to get where I am today and enjoy that.
The important thing is that they should reflect your organization and be a part of the culture. To that end, the tools I review will be based on how well they can be built into the culture with 1 on 1 (1:1) facilitation, inttegrations, etc. You may find a tool that works better for you and your teams that didn’t work for me and mine. That is ok!
To really see how to orchestrate OKR’s, I recommend this resource published by Weekdone. Probably the best examples out there! You might even want to copy a few to get started!
Working in an Enterprise level organization, Atiim was the first product that really jumped out at me. They have a robust client list that includes financial institutions, so you know they take security seriously. They develop mobile-first, so it is a tool we can use on Walking 1 on 1’s.
Small businesses will probably be left out until they develop a freemium model though. Implementation comes with consulting by default, which requires at least 35-50 seats.
$10 / user / month (min 35 users)
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BetterWorks is a solid platform for and also what I would consider Enterprise Grade. Very professional but seems more HR focused than deliverable focused. Confirmed when speaking to their representative. They would not move forward without an HR representative, though our OKR initiative is through IT.
Seems more focused on goals, but not quite a full OKR tool. The feedback and other tools were strong, but left feeling this was more of a tool to help a business get started with goals, managed by HR initiative.
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Weekdone was my first experrience with OKR’s. If you haven’t seen their OKR Examples page, I highly recommend starting there to see how this should all come together. Weekdone and Atiim definitely lead the pack in educating and championing for OKR’s.
Multiple views to data specific to app viewing is an interesting model. I don’t like having multiple apps where it isn’t needed but having a separate weekly task app that is very clear compared to a full OKR app for front line might keep things on point without being overwhelming.
1-3: Free
4-10: $750 / year
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Very clean interface and one of the most recommended on the internet. Definitely built to be a central hub of OKR and communication.
$12.50 / user / month – $3,000 annual minimum
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Very attractive OKR dashboard that rolls up responsibilities. I really like that each OKR can have an Owner, Lead, and Contributors called out to clearly show supporting cast. While it has a chat on each milestone, it is missing 1:1 tools that I think are critical to an OKR tool.
$7.50 / user / month
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A nice goal dashboard for small teams who like to live in Slack. 1:1 support seems to only be a 2-question scrum form.
$20 / user / month
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At first I thought it was an opensource solution, but GTM Hub is one of the most dynamic of all of the solutions. If you are looking for an OKR dashboard to pull from multiple sources every month, this is a strong option. I feel without the facilitation of the 1:1 meetings, the OKR dashboard looses a lot of it’s power. This could probably be delivered with another solution like Grow.
“The true power of Gtmhub, however, is ability to deliver a new connector in 3 days. If we don’t have it and you need it – we’ll have it.”
$10 / user / month
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A Coworker is testing out Lattice with his team now. Very design friendly interface. Mobile first so walking 1:1’s are easy. 360* feedback supported with multiple levels of privacy. I think the thing that stood out most for me was the pre-meeting email so our 1:1’s can be as effective as possible.
$9 / user / month
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Many of the same datapoints, but really looks and feels like an Excel fie turned into an app. Design-wise it looks like a lot of charts, graphs, and info pushed together into a single view. Low on the pricepoint, but feels like a tool a micro-manager would want.
$50 / month (for 5 team minimum, additional are $25/mo)
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