6 OKR examples for Test Automation
What are Test Automation OKRs?
The OKR acronym stands for Objectives and Key Results. It's a goal-setting framework that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s, and it became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s. OKRs helps teams has a shared language to set ambitious goals and track progress towards them.
OKRs are quickly gaining popularity as a goal-setting framework. But, it's not always easy to know how to write your goals, especially if it's your first time using OKRs.
To aid you in setting your goals, we have compiled a collection of OKR examples customized for Test Automation. Take a look at the templates below for inspiration and guidance.
If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read more about the OKR meaning online.
Best practices for managing your Test Automation 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 Test Automation 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 Test Automation OKRs
OKRs without regular progress updates are just KPIs. You'll need to update progress on your OKRs every week to get the full benefits from the framework. 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
Spreadsheets are enough to get started. Then, once you need to scale you can use a proper OKR platform to make things easier.
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.
Test Automation 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'll find below a list of Objectives and Key Results templates for Test Automation. We also included strategic projects for each template to make it easier to understand the difference between key results and projects.
Hope you'll find this helpful!
OKRs to increase test automation percentage to 80%
- Increase test automation percentage to 80%
- Implement 60% of test automation by the end of the first month
- Develop script for selected automated tests
- Identify key tests suitable for automation
- Implement and validate the automated tests
- Finalize and establish 80% test automation by the end of the objective's period
- Identify key functionalities requiring automated testing
- Develop and implement desired automated tests
- Review and troubleshoot test results regularly
- Improve test coverage with automation to 70% by end of the second month
- Develop and implement automated testing strategies
- Consistently review and adjust strategies to reach 70% coverage
- Identify crucial areas lacking sufficient test coverage
OKRs to accelerate process efficiency by achieving 80% test automation
- Accelerate process efficiency by achieving 80% test automation
- Develop and implement two new automation tools
- Research potential automation tools relevant to business needs
- Train team on tool usage and proceed with implementation
- Build and beta test two selected automation tools
- Increase current test automation coverage by 20%
- Develop and implement additional automation tests
- Monitor and evaluate progress regularly
- Identify areas where test automation is currently lacking
- Reduce manual testing time by 30%
- Train staff in efficient, effective testing strategies
- Implement automated testing tools for repeated tasks
- Prioritize test cases based on importance
OKRs to increase test automation coverage to 80%
- Increase test automation coverage to 80%
- Develop and implement 20% more automated tests every month
- Identify areas needing additional automated tests
- Integrate tests into existing system
- Write and validate new automations
- Maintain less than 5% failure rate in our automated tests
- Provide ongoing team training on test creation
- Implement rigorous quality assurance processes
- Regularly review and update the automated tests
- Improve average test execution time by 15%
- Implement more effective test optimization strategies
- Upgrade server hardware to boost processing power
- Train staff in efficient testing procedures
OKRs to improve test coverage and automation for proactive debt remediation
- Increase test coverage and automation to enhance proactive debt remediation
- Implement end-to-end testing to validate entire debt remediation process
- Achieve 100% coverage for high-risk debt remediation scenarios
- Reduce manual effort by 50% through automation of debt remediation tasks
- Increase debt remediation efficacy by 25% through data-driven testing and analysis
OKRs to increase quality assurance effectiveness and efficiency
- Increase quality assurance effectiveness and efficiency
- Implement automation in 70% of QA testing processes
- Train QA team in automation tool use
- Identify the QA testing processes that can be automated
- Research and acquire suitable automation tools
- Decrease false positive reports by 30%
- Train staff on identifying and handling false positives
- Enhance data quality and accuracy checks
- Implement stricter parameters in reporting algorithms
- Increase the QA test pass rate to 95%
- Enhance the bug detection and reporting system
- Develop a comprehensive training program for QA testers
- Implement rigorous test case reviews before execution
OKRs to achieve quicker releases of the real estate application through automation
- Achieve quicker releases of the real estate application through automation
- Reduce bugs by 30% using automated testing tools and practices
- Train the team on effective automated testing practices
- Regularly review and improve testing procedures
- Implement automated testing tools in the development process
- Increase deployment frequency by 50% by optimizing the CI/CD pipeline
- Implement performance monitoring for continuous optimization
- Review and streamline the existing CI/CD pipeline
- Automate tests to reduce bottleneck issues
- Implement an automated roll-back system to minimize downtime by 40%
- Select and purchase appropriate roll-back system software
- Research available automated roll-back system platforms
- Train staff on roll-back system operations and procedures
More Test Automation OKR templates
We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.
OKRs to successfully complete project within the allotted time frame OKRs to enhance my soft skills competency OKRs to automate IT processes for increased efficiency OKRs to increase sales and retain customers OKRs to increase leads through Inbound Marketing OKRs to create efficient service quality monitoring tools
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