FAQ: How is Objective Progress Calculated?

Now that you've created an objective with key results and you're making progress, how is your overall objective progress being calculated? Use the following examples to gain a better understanding. 

• Objective with weighted numeric and percentage key results 
• Objective with numeric and percentage key results
• Objective with weighted numeric key results that have different units of measure
• Objective with numeric key results that have different units of measure
• Objective with numeric key results that have the same units of measure
• Objective with weighted percentage key results
• Objective with percentage key results

Example Objective with Weighted Numeric and Percentage Key Results: 

Objective: Develop process guidance for software release in order to assure a trainable and repeatable approach  

• KR1: Complete 3 courses on release process best practices (numeric, start 0, target 3, weighting 25%)
• KR2: Publish an outline of release activities for team collaboration (percentage, weighting 25%)
• KR3: Publish all guidance by the end of quarter (percentage, 50%)

Objective calculation based on current progress: 

KR1: 1 out of 3 courses complete (30%) x (33%) = 10% 

KR2: Outline complete (20%) x (100%) = 20% 

KR3: Guidance Published (50%) x (20%) = 10% 

Objective Progress = 40% 

Example Objective with Numeric and Percentage Key Results: 

Objective: Design and launch internal Employee Academy  

• KR1: Survey 10 team leaders on our educational needs and gaps
• KR2: Talk to 3 HR Directors from other companies on how they do internal education
• KR3: Define 10 training modules and design content for each
• KR4: Conduct the first 3-day team offsite to test out the Academy curriculum
• KR5: Launch Academy to all employees

Objective calculation based on current progress: 

KR1: 8 of 10 surveys complete (20%) x (80%) = 16% 

KR2: 3 of 3 directors complete (20%) x (100%) = 20% 

KR3: 10 of 10 modules complete (20%) x (100%) = 20% 

KR4: Offsite conducted (20%) x (66%) = 13%  

KR5: Academy launched (20%) x (0%) = 0%

Objective Progress = 69% 

Example Objective with Weighted Numeric Key Results that have Different Units of Measure

Objective: Achieve record metrics in all areas of marketing 

• KR1: 170,000 website visitors
• KR2: 23,000 signups
• KR3: 7,500 trials
• KR4: 3,500 new customers

Calculation based on current progress: 

KR1: 76,500 out of 170,000 website visitors (15%) x (45%) = 7% 

KR2: 6,000 out of 23,000 signups (20%) x (26%) = 5% 

KR3: 1,500 out of 7,500 trials (25%) x (20%) = 5% 

KR4: 525 out of 3,500 new customers (40%) x (15%) = 6% 

Objective progress = 23% 

Example Objective with Numeric Key Results that have Different Units of Measure: 

Objective: Activate user testing of our product 

• KR1: Conduct at least 20 face-to-face user testing and interview sessions
• KR2: Receive at least 10 user interviews from usertesting.com

Calculation based on current progress: 

KR1: 5 out of 20 sessions complete (50%) x (50%) = 25% 

KR2: 6 out of 10 interviews complete (50%) x (60%) = 30% 

Objective Progress = 55% 

Example Objective with Numeric Key Results that have the Same Units of Measure: 

Objective: Achieve record revenues while increasing profitability  

• KR1: Achieve $50k of sales in the Western Region
• KR2: Achieve $50k of sales in the Eastern Region

Calculation based on current progress: 

KR1: 30,000 dollars of 50,000 dollars (50%) x (60%) = 30% 

KR2: 10,000 dollars of 50,000 dollars (50%) x (20%) = 10% 

Objective Progress = 40% 

When all KRs are numeric and use the same units of measure, the most common approach is to sum all of the values as shown in the example above.  This is the default setting.  However, you also have the option to apply weighting and use the average feature.  A common scenario for this is when you are measuring data such as dollars but you want to emphasize a certain KR for the outcome such as sales revenue dollars vs. profit dollars.  You will see an option to select average instead of sum if all KRs are using the same numeric type and label as shown below.

Calculation based on current progress: 

KR1: 30,000 dollars of 50,000 dollars (50%) x (60%) x (80% weighting)= 48%

KR2: 1,000 dollars of 5,000 dollars (50%) x (20%) x (20% weighting) = 4%

Objective Progress = 54% 

Example Objective with Weighted Percentage Key Results

Objective: Have a successful product launch of version 3.0 

• KR1: Get published product reviews in 15 or more publications
• KR2: Get 1,000 new sign-ups
• KR3: Achieve sign-up to % trial ratio of over 25%
• KR4: Achieve trial to % paid ratio of over 50%

Calculation based on current progress:  

KR1: Published Reviews (30%) x (90%) = 27% 

KR2: Signups (10%) x (40%) = 4% 

KR3: Signups to trial (20%) x (50%) = 10% 

KR4: Trial to paid (40%) x (30%) = 12% 

Objective Progress = 53% 

Example Objective with Percentage Key Results

Objective: Research and improve customer satisfaction 

• KR1: Exceed Net Promoter Score (NPS) of over 8.0
• KR2: Get 1000 survey responses to annual satisfaction survey
• KR3: Conduct 50 phone interviews with top customers
• KR4: Conduct 15 phone interviews with recently churned customers
• KR5: Present an action plan of 10 improvements for next quarter

Calculation based on current progress: 

KR1: NPS (20%) x (80%) = 16% 

KR2: Responses (20%) x (60%) = 12% 

KR3: Top Customer interviews (20%) x (50%) = 10% 

KR4: Churned customer interviews (20%) x (40%) = 8% 

KR5: Action plan (20%) x (5%) = 1% 

Objective progress = 47%