3 OKR examples for Code Review
What are Code Review OKRs?
The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.
Writing good OKRs can be hard, especially if it's your first time doing it. You'll need to center the focus of your plans around outcomes instead of projects.
We have curated a selection of OKR examples specifically for Code Review to assist you. Feel free to explore the templates below for inspiration in setting your own goals.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read more about the OKR meaning online.
Best practices for managing your Code Review OKRs
Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.
Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇
Tip #1: Limit the number of key results
The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.
We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.
Tip #2: Commit to the weekly check-ins
Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.
Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.
Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row
Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples below). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.
As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.
Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.
Building your own Code Review OKRs with AI
While we have some examples below, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. There are 2 options available to you.
- Use our free OKRs generator
- Use Tability, a complete platform to set and track OKRs and initiatives
- including a GPT-4 powered goal generator
Best way to track your Code Review OKRs
The rules of OKRs are simple. Quarterly OKRs should be tracked weekly, and yearly OKRs should be tracked monthly. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:
- It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
- It will highlight poorly set OKRs
- It will surface execution risks
- It improves transparency and accountability
We recommend using a spreadsheet for your first OKRs cycle. You'll need to get familiar with the scoring and tracking first. Then, you can scale your OKRs process by using a proper OKR-tracking tool for it.
If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.
Code Review OKRs templates
We've covered most of the things that you need to know about setting good OKRs and tracking them effectively. It's now time to give you a series of templates that you can use for inspiration!
You will find in the next section many different Code Review Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).
Hope you'll find this helpful!
OKRs to improve code quality through effective code reviews
- Improve code quality through effective code reviews
- Reduce average time taken to complete code reviews
- Set clear expectations and guidelines for code reviews
- Use automated tools for code analysis and review to enhance efficiency
- Implement a peer review process to streamline code reviews
- Provide regular code review training sessions for team members
- Implement and track improvements in code review feedback incorporation rate
- Conduct a survey to collect feedback from developers on barriers to incorporating code review feedback
- Analyze the survey results to identify the common barriers to incorporating code review feedback
- Implement a tracking system to monitor and measure the improvements in code review feedback incorporation rate
- Develop a training program to address the identified barriers and improve feedback incorporation rate
- Increase team members' satisfaction with code review process
- Increase average number of bugs caught through code review per week
OKRs to conduct regular penetration testing and code reviews
- Improve security through regular penetration testing and code reviews
- Ensure all critical vulnerabilities found in penetration testing are remediated within 2 weeks
- Conduct code reviews for all new features and major changes before deployment
- Implement at least 80% of code review recommendations within the next release cycle
- Increase the frequency of penetration testing from once a quarter to twice a month
OKRs to enhance Developer Quality
- Enhance Developer Quality
- Foster collaboration by establishing cross-functional teams to deliver one successful project
- Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each team member to ensure clarity
- Facilitate regular communication and meetings among team members to encourage collaboration
- Identify key individuals from different departments to form cross-functional teams
- Provide the necessary resources and support to enable teams to successfully deliver the project
- Enhance technical skills through monthly training sessions with at least 90% attendance
- Monitor and track attendance of each team member for training sessions
- Provide relevant and informative training materials for each session
- Communicate the importance of attending training sessions to all team members
- Establish a monthly schedule for training sessions
- Increase code quality by implementing code review process and achieving an average rating of 4 out of 5
- Establish a designated code review team to review and provide constructive feedback on code submissions
- Implement a systematic code review process and ensure all code changes undergo thorough review
- Define clear coding guidelines and standards to be followed during the code review process
- Regularly measure and track the code review ratings, identifying areas of improvement and addressing them
- Improve efficiency by decreasing average bug fix time to less than 24 hours
More Code Review OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
OKRs to enhance app experience through the implementation of product design best practices OKRs to achieve 100% compliance with relevant industry regulations and standards OKRs to deliver projects on time OKRs to deliver an excellent product with seamless usability OKRs to implement effective project risk management strategies OKRs to boost website conversion rate
OKRs resources
Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.
- To learn: Complete 2024 OKR cheat sheet
- Blog posts: ODT Blog
- Success metrics: KPIs examples