OKRs vs KPIs: What’s the Difference?

When comparing OKRs and KPIs, many forget a critical aspect — the relationships between them.

Hey, Paweł here. Welcome to the free edition of The Product Compass Newsletter, republished on Medium.

Every week, I share actionable tips and resources for PMs.

The original post you can read for free without a Medium subscription: https://www.productcompass.pm/p/okr-vs-kpi-whats-the-difference

When comparing OKRs and KPIs, many forget a critical aspect — the relationships between them.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

In short, the Key Results in the OKR always refer to quantitative metrics, some of which might be KPIs. Comparing KPIs to OKRs in the form of a table without explaining their relationship doesn’t make much sense.

Let’s dive into more details.

What are OKRs?

OKR stands for “Objectives and Key Results.” The two components:

• Objective (Why, What, When): A qualitative, inspirational, time-bound goal for a team to focus on. Typically set quarterly. It should be SMART.
• Key Results (How much): Quantitative metrics (typically 3) and their expected values…