To avoid "set it and forget it" goal setting, Atlassian teams use a monthly ritual. They score progress on their OKRs and write a public, tweet-sized update. This lightweight, consistent practice ensures accountability, maintains visibility across the company, and prompts regular re-evaluation.
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Instead of a universal definition, "real progress" is achieved by first defining what change you want to see in your organization. You then adapt your ways of working—strategy, discovery, OKRs—to support that specific goal, rather than just following a generic playbook.
To solve misalignment, the company cascaded OKRs from the CEO down. Critically, regional leaders were made 'champions' of key pillars like user acquisition. This gave them ownership and a direct voice in shaping product solutions, turning potentially adversarial relationships into collaborative partnerships.
Go beyond visual roadmaps. Create a monthly written document for executives that explains *why* the roadmap changed, details priorities, and includes data from recent launches. This forces intentionality, builds trust, and fosters deeper, more accountable conversations with leadership.
Shift your team's language from tracking output (e.g., 'deployed XYZ API') to tracking outcomes. Reframe milestones to focus on the business capability you have 'unlocked' for other teams. This small linguistic change reorients the team toward business impact and clarifies your contribution to metrics like NPS.
Combat the tendency for teams to ease into the new year by anchoring them around what must be completed in the first month. This creates a "fast start," builds early conviction in the annual plan, and prevents playing catch-up in February and March.
Pursuing huge, multi-year goals creates a constant anxiety of not doing "enough." To combat this, break the grand vision into smaller, concrete milestones (e.g., "what does a win look like in 12 months?"). This makes progress measurable and shifts the guiding question from the paralyzing "Am I doing enough?" to the strategic "Is my work aligned with the long-term goal?"
Solely measuring a team's output fails to capture the health of their collaboration. A more robust assessment includes tracking goal achievement, team psychological safety, role clarity, and the speed of execution. This provides a holistic view of team effectiveness.
An all-green OKR or status board is a red flag, often indicating a lack of transparency or fear of failure. A "colorful" board with red and yellow statuses is a positive signal. It shows the team is honest about challenges, fostering a culture where problems are surfaced and solved openly.