1️⃣ A typical project view: measuring delivery

Imagine a project aimed at improving the onboarding experience for new customers in a SaaS company. The project dashboard might track things like:

✔️ Completion of the new onboarding flow

✔️ Number of screens redesigned

✔️ Development hours spent

✔️ Progress against timeline and budget

All of these indicators are useful. They tell us whether the team is delivering what was planned. But they don’t tell us something even more important:

👉 Did the work actually improve the onboarding experience?

👉 Did it change user behavior in the way we hoped?

2️⃣ OKRs focus on outcomes

This is where OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) become powerful. OKRs encourage teams to define success not only in terms of what we build, but in terms of what changes because of what we build.

Instead of stopping at delivery metrics, we ask:

• Are users completing onboarding faster?

• Do more users reach the “first value” moment?

• Are fewer users dropping off during the setup process?

In other words, OKRs shift attention from output → outcome. They help teams track whether the work they do actually leads to value, impact, and behavioral change.

3️⃣ Reframing the project with an OKR lens

If we revisit the onboarding example, a simplified OKR might look like this:

Objective

Create an onboarding experience that helps new users quickly realize value from the product.

Key Results

✔️ Increase the percentage of users completing onboarding from 45% to 70%

✔️ Reduce average time to first successful use from 12 minutes to 6 minutes

✔️ Decrease onboarding drop-off rate by 30%

Notice the difference: the team will still deliver features and redesign screens. But success is now evaluated by changes in user experience and behavior, not just by whether the work was completed.

That’s the real idea behind OKRs:

to make sure our efforts lead to the change we actually want to create.

Want to know more?

If you’d like to explore this approach in practice, I’ll be running an online OKR workshop on March 26, where we’ll work hands-on with how to connect goals, assumptions, and measurable outcomes. This approach to OKRs builds on the work of Jeff Gothelf and Joshua Seiden, authors of Who Does What by How Much?, focusing on writing OKRs that measure real customer and user behavior change.

I’m participating as Certified Training Partner with Sense & Respond Learning, with Adding Value Consulting (AVC) AB as the event partner. For more information, follow this link: https://ti.to/sense-respond-learning/okrs-jon-urdal-march-26-2026 

Date: 18 February 2026

Time: 09:00–10:00 CET

Format: Live online

Hosted by: Sense & Respond Learning + Adding Value Consulting AB

Speakers: 

• Jeff Gothelf Co-founder Sense & Respond Learning

• Jon Urdal, Certified Training Partner (CTP) – OKR, Sense & Respond Learning

You’ll explore:

• How OKRs shift focus from output to outcomes

• Real-world examples and use cases

• How to use OKRs for collaboration, customer value & learning

• Live Q&A to bring your own challenges

Follow this link to attende the webinar: Registration 

Jeg har vært del av toppledelsen i flere store selskaper i Norge, herunder Egmont, Schibsted, Elanders og Peterson. I disse selskapene har jeg hatt gleden av å lede innarbeidelsen av kraftfulle forbedringer. Endringer som ikke bare har gitt spisset kundeverdi og betydelige resultatforbedringer, men positiv mestringskultur i tillegg. Forbedringene har skapt økt kapasitet, nye nivåer av trivsel og redusert sykefravær. 

Erfaringene som jeg har tilegnet meg som toppleder i selskaper i omstillinger, overfører jeg nå til selskaper og organisasjoner som vil innarbeide forbedringer i prestasjoner og resultater. Jeg loser små og store organisasjoner - analoge og digitale - på veien frem til fremragende prestasjoner,  leveranser, trivsel og kundetilfredshet. 

Vi skaper smidige ferdigheter og resultater hos deg. 

Vi styrker resultateffektene i selskapene gjennom aktiv deltagelse, coaching, tilpassede workshops, kurs og blandet læring. 

Sammen komponerer vi veikartet i din forbedringsreise, med innhold, retning og tempo tilpasset din organisasjon og ditt utgangspunkt.