Defining OKRs ang Goals in a Kanban Context

When aligning Kanban with OKRs and goals, objectives can be defined at various levels, such as the organization, workspace, and workflow. Workspace serves as the top level in the project delivery or product development hierarchy, allowing organizations to define, plan, track, and monitor workflows in a centralized space. It helps streamline collaboration and ensures focus on delivering value at each stage of the process. In digital Kanban tools, workspaces are further broken down into projects or workflows, offering flexibility to users. Multiple workspaces can be created or joined, but each workspace remains independent, enabling tailored management of each initiative.

Objectives at these levels can be defined as follows:

• At the organizational level, an Organization Admin can:
  • Define and manage both Organization-Level and Workspace-Level OKRs and goals. Objectives should include descriptive titles, detailed descriptions, and target outcomes/Key Results.
  • Set progress tracking settings and assign weightage for company and workspace goals. The following items, which contribute specific percentages to the objective, can be utilized:
    • Workspace
    • Project
    • Workflow
  • Maintain visibility into all workspace, workflows, and individual OKRs (if set to public).
  • Monitor workspace goals to track their alignment with organizational objectives and workflow goals.
• At the Workspace level, a Workspace Admin can:
  • Define and manage Workspace-level and Workflow OKRs.
  • Set progress settings and weightage for Workspace and Workflow goals. Relevant items contributing to the objective percentage can include:
    • Workflow
    • User Stories (for DevOps)
    • Task Groups (for Kanban)
  • Link Organizational Goals to Workspace Goals as Parent Goals through an approval process.
  • Provide visibility into all workflows and their associated OKRs within the Workspace. They can also view linked Organization Goals.
  • Ensure Workspace goals are aligned with and support the broader company objectives.
• At the workflow level, a Product Owner or Kanban Manager can:
  • Define and manage workflow-level OKRs.
  • Set progress tracking and assign weightage to workflow goals. The following items, which contribute a specific percentage to the objective, can be utilized:
    • Relevant user stories
    • Task groups
  • Link Workspace Goals to Workflow Goals as Parent Goals through an approval process.
  • Provide visibility into all user stories, task groups, and associated OKRs within the workflow.
  • Ensure that workflow goals are aligned with company objectives.
• At the individual level, a team member can:
  • Define and manage personal OKRs privately.
  • Link Task Groups and Tasks they are working on to their individual OKRs.
  • Provide visibility into their own OKRs and assigned tasks.
  • Ensure that workflow goals are aligned with company objectives.

Figures A.9, A.10, A.11, and A.12 illustrate examples of defining and measuring OKRs in Kanban:

Figure A.9: Defining OKRs for an Organization in Kanban (Source: Vabro)

Figure A.9 above shows a Vabro platform dashboard for tracking organizational and individual IT goals, focusing on "Organization Goals/Objectives" and a visible progress board. It highlights key results and their progress toward objectives such as "Increase Customer Satisfaction by 50%," "Improve Customer Response Time," and "Enhance Ticket Resolution Efficiency," each with specific timelines and assigned personnel.

Figure A.10: Company-level OKRs (Source: Jira)

Figure A.10 above shows a goal-tracking dashboard in Jira, focused on "Increase Customer Satisfaction." It displays progress and related workflows, highlighting two sub-goals: "Develop & Launch VMFoods Mobile App" and "Expand Online Delivery to Tier 2 Cities," each with progress bars and assigned timelines.

Figure A.11: Company Goals (Source: Asana)

Figure A.11 above shows a goal-tracking dashboard for VMFoods, Inc., displaying the company's strategic objectives and their progress. It highlights key goals such as "Increase Sales" and "Increase Customer Satisfaction," along with their sub-goals and assigned teams, indicating the timeline and current status of each objective.

Figure A.12: Example of a Company-level OKR (Source: ClickUp)

Figure A.12 above shows a goal-tracking interface in ClickUp, focused on increasing brand awareness and engagement, with current progress at 9%. It lists target metrics, such as increasing website traffic by 20% and growing social media followers by 30%, showing progress indicators and task breakdowns for each.

Objectives should be ambitious, qualitative goals that drive the team’s purpose and align with the organization’s vision. For example, an organizational-level objective could be ‘Enhance product quality and customer satisfaction’.

Key Results: These are quantitative measures that indicate progress toward the objective, such as "Reduce production defects by 20%" or "Achieve 90% positive customer feedback." With Kanban, OKRs and goals can be integrated by associating specific tasks on the Kanban Board with these key results. Each column on the board, representing different stages of work, becomes a visual roadmap toward the objective.

Figure A.13 illustrates how OKRs are tracked in Kanban implementations:

Figure A.13: Tracking OKRs in Kanban (Source: Vabro)

Figure A.13 above shows a progress tracking interface in Vabro for the key result, "Develop a mobile app to improve User Experience," which is part of the goal to "Increase Customer Satisfaction by 50%." The completion rate is 54%, and the workflow is on track. The interface displays associated projects, workflows, and related documents, along with a progress graph and a comment section for team communication.