OKRs for Design Orgs

In a recent Thought Partnership session, a VP Design asked for help in thinking through their team's OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). I've been grappling with this subject since my first internal VP role, as I've worked at companies that went all-in on OKRs as a way to not just measure performance, but coordinate effort across teams.

And all that time, OKRs have proven challenging, because while most of design's value is realized through collaboration, there's something in how OKRs are commonly practiced where Design contorts itself to identify that which it can solely own. I've come to believe the structure of Design OKRs is straightforward, falling into two camps: Functional OKRs (specific to Design), and Cross-Functional OKRs (shared with collaborating functions).

Functional

These OKRs are the ones that a Design organization can 'own.' The specifics will vary, but there are common Objectives.