For part of this week (well the end of the week) I was on leave.

We had a team meeting about our team OKRs.

OKR, which stands for Objectives and Key Results, is a goal-setting framework used to define and track objectives and their measurable outcomes. It helps organizations align on goals, improve focus, and drive progress. OKRs consist of a qualitative, inspirational Objective and several quantitative Key Results that define how to achieve the objective.

It’s very easy for a team (or an individual for that matter) to have an ill-defined or woolly objective about the year ahead.

In the past and in previous roles I very much asked to deliver SMART objectives.

A SMART objective is a goal that adheres to a framework of five criteria: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant (or Realistic), and Time-bound. This structured approach clarifies what needs to be done, how to track progress, and when to expect results, fostering greater focus, accountability, and success in achieving objectives for individuals, teams, and organizations.

I can see with the OKR approach, which doesn’t ignore the concept of SMART is that there is an overlying overall (inspirational) objective.

It can be quite challenging to write OKRs and if you haven’t done it before, it is even more challenging. Of course with an ever changing landscape, the ability of an organisation to be agile and responsive is important, but having an OKR scaffolding will allow an organisation to ascertain if there should be a change in direction, what is a priority and what isn’t? What do we need to stop doing, what should we do now, and do we need more resources.

Any organisation needs to balance the requirements of being reactive to changes, but also proactive in planning for the year ahead. OKRs do allow for that forward planning, but should incorporate flexibility and agility as well.

Continued to review the most recent draft of our NREN 4 Education proposal.

UUK and Jisc are planning to publish one of the strategic outline cases as a public report. It will also be supported by two blog posts which will have my name on. Spent some of the week discussing, editing and writing aspects for that process.