OKR Brainstorming Expert

The agent generates and validates outcome-focused OKR sets using Christina Wodtke's Radical Focus methodology. It produces inspirational objectives with measurable key results, applies counter-metric tests, and scores quality against proven criteria.

Workflow

1. Identify the Theme

The agent asks: "What is the single most important thing this team needs to change this quarter?" The answer becomes the theme. Every OKR must connect back to this theme.

Validation checkpoint: If the user provides more than one theme, the agent pushes back. One theme per team per quarter. Multiple themes means no focus.

2. Generate 3 Distinct OKR Sets

For each set, the agent produces:

Objective -- One qualitative, inspirational statement (no numbers)
Key Result 1 -- Primary metric proving progress
Key Result 2 -- Secondary metric capturing a different dimension
Key Result 3 -- Counter-metric preventing gaming of KR1 and KR2
Rationale -- 2-3 sentences on why this set matters and how it connects to the theme

Objective quality criteria:

Qualitative (numbers belong in key results)
Inspirational (team would be excited to achieve it)
Time-bound (achievable within one quarter)
Actionable (team can directly influence the outcome)

Key result quality criteria:

Measurable (has a metric with a number)
Outcome-focused (measures results, not activities)
Set at 60-70% confidence (not sandbagging, not demoralizing)
Limited to 3 per objective

3. Apply the Counter-Metric Test

For every pair of key results, the agent asks: "Could we hit these numbers by doing something harmful?" If yes, it adds a counter-metric.

Example: If KR1 is "Increase sign-ups by 40%", a counter-metric is "Maintain activation rate above 60%." Without it, the team could game KR1 by lowering sign-up barriers so far that unqualified users flood in.

4. Validate with Tool

python scripts/okr_validator.py --input okrs.json

The validator scores each OKR set and surfaces quality issues: disguised tasks, missing metrics, output-framed key results, or missing counter-metrics.

Validation checkpoint: Any OKR set scoring below 70% must be revised before committing.

Example: Quarterly OKR Generation

Input: Theme is "retention" for a SaaS product team.

Output:

OKR Set 1:
  Objective: "Become the product teams can't imagine leaving"
  KR1: Reduce monthly churn from 4.2% to 2.5%
  KR2: Increase 90-day retention cohort from 68% to 82%
  KR3 (counter): Maintain NPS score above 45 (prevent forced lock-in tactics)
  Rationale: Churn is the top revenue leak. Improving retention directly
  increases LTV and reduces pressure on acquisition spend.

OKR Set 2:
  Objective: "Make our onboarding so good that users hit value in their first session"
  KR1: Increase Day-1 activation rate from 34% to 55%
  KR2: Reduce time-to-first-value from 12 minutes to under 4 minutes
  KR3 (counter): Maintain support ticket volume below 200/week (don't hide complexity)
  Rationale: Users who activate on Day 1 retain at 3x the rate. Onboarding
  is the highest-leverage retention lever.

OKR Set 3:
  Objective: "Turn our power users into vocal advocates"
  KR1: Increase referral-sourced signups from 8% to 20% of new users
  KR2: Grow active community members from 500 to 2,000
  KR3 (counter): Maintain power user retention above 95% (don't distract them)
  Rationale: Advocacy compounds. Referred users have 37% higher retention
  than paid-acquisition users.

$ python scripts/okr_validator.py --input okrs.json

OKR Validation Results
======================
Set 1: 92/100 - PASS
  Objective: Qualitative, inspirational, time-bound
  KR1: Measurable, outcome-focused, stretch target
  KR2: Measurable, different dimension from KR1
  KR3: Valid counter-metric for churn reduction

Set 2: 88/100 - PASS
  Objective: Qualitative, inspirational, time-bound
  KR1: Measurable, outcome-focused
  KR2: Measurable, tracks different dimension
  KR3: Valid counter-metric
  Note: "under 4 minutes" - verify baseline measurement exists

Set 3: 85/100 - PASS
  Objective: Qualitative, inspirational
  KR1: Measurable, outcome-focused
  KR2: Measurable, but "active" needs precise definition
  KR3: Valid counter-metric

Common OKR Mistakes

Mistake	Example	Fix
Disguised task	"Launch the mobile app"	Ask "why?" -- measure the outcome the launch enables
Too many OKRs	5 objectives per team	Pick 1, maybe 2. More means no focus
100% confidence	Target you know you will hit	Stretch to 60-70% confidence
Activity metric	"Publish 12 blog posts"	Measure impact: "Increase organic traffic by 30%"
Set and forget	Review only at quarter end	Weekly check-ins with confidence scoring
Top-down only	All OKRs from leadership	Combine top-down direction with bottom-up team insight

OKRs vs KPIs vs North Star Metric

Concept	Purpose	Cadence	Example
North Star Metric	Single metric capturing core value delivery	Permanent	Weekly active users completing a workflow
KPIs	Health indicators across the business	Ongoing	Revenue, churn rate, response time
OKRs	Ambitious quarterly goals that move KPIs	Quarterly	"Become the fastest onboarding in our category"

Relationship: OKRs are the lever pulled to move KPIs toward the North Star Metric. KPIs indicate business health. The NSM indicates core value delivery. OKRs define what changes this quarter.

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Command
`okr_validator.py`	Validate and score OKR sets	`python scripts/okr_validator.py --input okrs.json`
`okr_validator.py`	Run demo validation	`python scripts/okr_validator.py --demo`

References

references/okr-best-practices.md -- Detailed OKR guide with examples and anti-patterns
assets/okr_template.md -- OKR document template and quarterly review format

brainstorm-okrs