How to Track Team Goals

𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵*𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟯𝟬 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀. And, no, not because of anything AI-related. It’s because we went back to our original goal-setting & tracking system. This is something I learned from my co-founders, Andy Mackensen and Sean Kelly, when we started building The Assist. We rolled it out team wide & it genuinely worked for us. We knew what mattered each quarter. We weren’t guessing what people were working on. Progress was visible instead of, like, ✨vibes✌️. Then… 𝘸𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧𝘧. For a quarter. Maaaybe two. Because things got busy, we’re human, and we told ourselves, “nah, we’re good. We got this.” Yeah. Nope. We did 𝘯𝘰𝘵 got this. The reason we brought it back wasn’t even because of me. My direct report asked if we could go back to the system because she was sick of being the company’s brain and the knower of all things. Fair. We brought it back (shoutout to Cameron Huber for keeping us accountable), and my weeks started feeling better immediately. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝟭. 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. We limit them to 3–5. They’re specific, measurable, and require sustained effort (not things you knock out in an afternoon). When deciding what makes the list, we ask: 𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗶𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱? About 2 weeks before a new quarter, we draft goals. A week before, we review them as a team. A couple days before the quarter starts, they’re locked. 𝟮. 𝗘𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸, 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 “𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘀.” Read: NOT task lists. They’re the 3 outcomes that would make the week feel worthwhile if nothing else got done. Every weekly win has to connect back to a quarterly goal. If it doesn’t, it stays off the list. #ruthlessprioritization 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗿𝗵𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗺. Once a week (I reco Fri before you *slam laptop shut*), everyone updates the status of their goals and weekly wins: -On track. -Partial. -Off track. We fill out a short status report: wins, blockers, help needed, and notes. These are reviewed async ahead of time, so Monday meetings stay focused. We talk through what needs attention and move on. No reading updates out loud. No guessing. One side effect I didn’t fully appreciate until later: 𝗕𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱. No mad scramble to remember what happened. It’s just there. We run it in Notion because having everything in one place makes it harder to lie to yourself about what’s actually getting done. That’s it. Simple. Repeatable. Flexible enough to survive busy weeks. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗵𝗺𝘂 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 👇.

Amazon does not use OKRs or KPIs. Instead, Amazon uses a simple, flat list of goals with no hierarchy. Each goal has a single owner and objective pass/fail criteria. Here is how this approach works so well for Amazon: Amazon’s goal-setting process is simple. Every year, through the OP-1 planning cycle, teams generate a list of SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). These goals fall into two categories: initiatives (things you want to build or complete) and metrics (things you want to achieve). These goals are not aspirational statements or vague ambitions. They are written with such precision that there is no debate at the end of the timeframe: a goal is either met or not met. For example, a goal might read, “Achieve TP 95 1-hour delivery to any business in the Los Angeles metro area (see zip codes here) by September 15th for 200k items, including the top 75% business items.” You either did that, or you didn’t. There is no room for debate. Roughly 10 to 20 percent of the goals created in the OP-1 are elevated to S-team (senior executive/c-suite) goals when a senior executive says, “This should be an S-team goal.” That designation doesn’t change how the goal is written; it just adds more rigor to how progress is tracked. For S-team goals, owners must report status monthly or quarterly using a simple red/yellow/green system. Green means on track. Yellow signals risk. Red indicates you will not meet the goal unless you make a significant change. At the end of the goal’s timeframe, the goal is marked as “met” or “not met”. There is no partial credit and no scoring system, just pass or fail. One of the most interesting aspects of Amazon’s approach to goal setting is its strong emphasis on team-controlled levers that, if improved, will lead to better business outcomes. This means goals rarely say “Generate X revenue”; instead, they say something like “Increase on-time delivery by X percent” or “reduce receive cost per item by X dollars and cents.” This goal-setting method is often misunderstood. A senior executive at another large company once asked me, “At what level do Amazon leaders start managing the real stuff, like revenue and profit?” The answer is: there is no such level because the expectation is that you operate at all levels. Input metrics, the nitty-gritty things that the company controls that can impact the customer experience, are the “real stuff”. Ultimately, this goal system works because it’s brutally simple. There’s no cascading structure, no weighted scorecards, and no project management software required to track it. If you own a goal at Amazon, you’re responsible for hitting it.

Want better sprints? Start with better metrics. Agile success isn’t about guessing it’s about tracking the right data. ✓ Sprint Velocity & Story Points Gauge your team’s delivery capacity and fine-tune sprint planning with historical data. ✓ Sprint Progress Visualization Visual cues like burndown charts help monitor scope creep and pacing in real time. ✓ Cycle Time vs. Lead Time Understand time efficiency Cycle Time reflects execution, Lead Time reveals delivery performance. ✓ Task Management Efficiency Too many WIP (Work in Progress) items? That’s a signal to reduce multitasking and improve focus. ✓ Team Happiness Index Morale impacts productivity. Regular pulse checks lead to better engagement and retention. ✓ Defect Density Track bugs early. Low defect density means higher product quality and team effectiveness. ✓ Sprint Goal Success Rate Did the team meet the sprint goal? This shows alignment between planning and execution. ✓ Release Frequency Frequent releases mean faster feedback loops and better adaptability to change. ✓ Technical Debt Tracking Identify patterns in rushed work or rework. Addressing this early saves future costs. ✓ Team Collaboration Health Better collaboration leads to shared ownership and faster problem-solving. Common Myths Agile doesn’t believe in metrics. → Agile isn't anti-data it’s anti-waste. Good metrics inform, not control. Velocity is the only metric that matters. → Velocity without quality or context can be misleading. Focus on outcomes, not just speed. Metrics are for managers, not teams. → The best teams track their own metrics to inspect, adapt, and grow. All metrics should be quantitative. Why does this matter? ✓ These KPIs help teams improve sprint over sprint. ✓ Scrum Masters use them to remove blockers and coach teams. ✓ Stakeholders gain visibility into team performance and product health. What’s the toughest KPI to measure in your team? #BusinessAnalyst #ProjectManager #AgileLeadership #ScrumMaster #AgileMetrics

It's not just about setting goals for the company/department/team, it's about how you *operationalize* them. Here are my 8 steps to consider for for actioning the goals you just decided on. I love this time of the year, I really do. Everyone is buzzing with goals – and the team is (hopefully!) feeling energized. But like personal new years resolutions, you start to see the excitement and clarity fizzle out in the upcoming months. Work happens. Requests happen. Fire drills and pivots happen. It's naive to believe the team will remember the goals if we don't exhaustively repeat and document them, too. Just because we mentioned it in a call or meeting doesn't equate to 100% recall. Here are the 8 steps I saw work in-house to combat this and operationalize the goals (they need a plan!): 1. Set the goals at the company-level and ensure they cascade down (Company > department > team > individual) 2. Document these goals in a series of documents correlated to the audience waterfall (The company ones should be readily available for anyone to find -- pinning in a general channel is a great option, dept. ones in dept. channels, etc.) 3. Ensure you discuss and/or document how you backed into the goals (what's the why and the how) and link to where you're tracking the progress/performance (transparency) 4. Have dept./team leads decide on their goals that back into the company goals (bonus points if the leads bring in their ICs to the process, too) -- being part of the process gives into more buy-in 5. Use 1-1s to ensure *everyone* understands the company, dept., and team goals, and then use this time to discuss their individual goals that tie into these 6. Designate team owners of the goals (ideally not managers). These are the champions for that individual goal, and have a responsibility to: 1) Create a document for that individual goal 2) Create a work roadmap to achieve the goal 3) Track & report on the goal 4) work with stakeholders to project manage the work. I find this step SO helpful - and where the magic of operationalizing comes into play. This document can also be a table of contents that hyperlinks out to individual project briefs and other documents for the work. I know this may feel like documentation overload, but it's absolutely needed. It creates clarity. 7. Repeat the goals exhaustively. Anyone should be able to rattle off the goals at any time if you repeat it enough – power of repetition! Bonus point if you can come up with a catchy acronym. 8. Report on the goals monthly and quarterly via performance and progress Tl;dr: power of repetition (and when you think you've said it too many times, say it again), transparency, documentation, team activation, designated owners, mini work plans, and consistent reporting/tracking. What'd I miss, or what would you add?

Winning teams all have one thing in common: They can count on each other. - They keep their word - They meet their timelines - They speak up when they can't The real driver of high-performing teams? - It's not talent - It's not strategy - It's not operations It's mutual accountability. I learned this the hard way. I inherited a nightmare: - A talented team missing every deadline. - Everyone working late nights. - Absolutely zero trust. Then I introduced a two-minute habit: 💡 "Called Shots" The system is deliberately simple: Morning: Public declaration of 3-5 commitments Evening: Public reporting of hits and misses Friday: Team reflection on patterns Why does it work? Because no one wants to fall short in front of their peers. It wasn't individual shame driving us.  It was rewiring the team for shared success. The magic is in the loop: ✅ Clear commitments create focus. ✅ Public results create natural accountability. ✅ Weekly reflection creates continuous improvement. On Fridays, we ask: ✅ Where did I excel? ✅ Where can I improve? ✅ What's my one change for next week? The transformation was dramatic: ✅ Excuses turned into solutions. ✅ Promises became unbreakable. ✅ Team trust skyrocketed. Most importantly: The team owned their growth. 💡 Pro Tip: AI Analysis Boost Want to supercharge your team's learning?  Here's a prompt to analyze your Called Shots data: "Analyze this week's Called Shots data. Focus on: Success patterns in completed tasks Common obstacles in incomplete tasks Team velocity trends Hidden productivity opportunities Suggested process improvements Include specific examples and actionable recommendations." Want to give it a try? Copy and paste the image from this post. Want the exact template we used to track your data? I made it free for subscribers: 💡 https://lnkd.in/eiPgBNB6 Remember: The best systems don't force accountability. They make it a natural ingredient for mutual success. Helpful?  ✅ Follow Dave Kline for more.  ♻️ And repost to help other leaders.

How do you keep track of multiple product teams? This is a common problem for product leaders, as you've got: • Lots of product teams working on stuff • Limited time to spend with them You need to know which teams are struggling and you need to dive deep on, and which ones are fine on their own. I use a system called a 𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: 📈 Built in Google Sheets / Excel. Low tech, but best option I’ve found so far 📈 1 tab per team; 3 main sections: team health / output / outcomes. Allows you to do root cause analysis as team health drives output, and output drives outcomes 📈 Teams fill a column each week. Seeing weeks side-by-side allows you to spot trends 📈 Does NOT cover product strategy: what problems we should solve / how are we solving them / how are we reducing value + usability risk. I cover this separately in product reviews, because the conversations are very different 📈 Team health: covers number of engineered days you’ve got, % time spent on planned (e.g. different OKRs) vs. unplanned work (e.g. bugs, ad hoc requests), and any qualitative feedback from teams on blockers they foresee 📈 Output: tracks delivery of epics related to OKRs. Simplicity much more important than accuracy, so usually just the number of tickets “done” each week out of the expected total 📈 Outcome: the OKR metrics you are tracking. Keeps everyone focused on outcomes, even as you talk about delivery / outputs. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: ⏱️ Each team completes their column on a given day each week (e.g. Weds by 1pm). Should take 10-15 mins ⏱️ Leadership review all teams that day (e.g. Weds 3pm). Takes about 3 mins per team, so scales to 10+ teams quite easily ⏱️ Everyone blocks out an hour the next day to problem solve: “Office Hours” (e.g. Thurs 10-11am), which is typically 4x15 min slots ⏱️ Anyone in a team, or in leadership can request a team takes an Office Hour slot to joint problem solve. Agenda sent out after leadership review (e.g. 4pm Weds) ⏱️ Really important to stress psychological safety / on-the-same-side atmosphere in Office Hours 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺: ✅ Very easy to see which teams are struggling by comparing teams and over weeks ✅ Report allows root cause analysis for common problems (why didn't this ship on time?! ... ah, ad hoc requests are eating 60% of engineering time) ✅ Helps you understand true capacity of teams for planning ✅ Teams can get guaranteed problem solving time each week More notes on how this works, and a template here: https://lnkd.in/e5q2m_Vk Visit Hustle Badger for help in key phases of your product career: • Getting a job • Settling into a new role • Unlocking your full potential

OKRs are your ambitious goals. KPIs are how you track execution. Ignore either... and your growth stalls. Most coaches try to scale on feel. But feel isn’t data. And opinions don’t build predictable income. OKRs set your direction. KPIs prove you’re moving towards it. Together? They turn chaos into clarity. OKRs (Objectives + Key Results) Your blueprint for bold growth. What They Do: ✔️ Turn big goals into clear outcomes. ✔️ Align your team behind one focus. ✔️ Make long-term strategy actionable now. When To Use: 👉🏽 You’re scaling fast and need focus. 👉🏽 You’re setting quarterly priorities. 👉🏽 You want your team rowing in sync. Ask Yourself: → What single result moves the needle most? → Are our goals stretching or playing safe? → Does everyone know what winning looks like? End Goal: Everyone’s clear on where you’re headed and how you’ll get there. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) Your scoreboard for performance. What They Do: ✔️ Show what’s working (and what’s not). ✔️ Keep growth consistent. ✔️ Flag problems before they blow up. When To Use: 👉🏽 You want to measure stability. 👉🏽 You’re tracking ongoing systems. 👉🏽 You need visibility across the team. Ask Yourself: → Which numbers prove we’re on track? → What early signs warn something’s off? → Are we tracking progress or just activity? End Goal: No guessing. Just clarity, consistency, and control. TLDR: OKRs = Where you’re headed. KPIs = How you’ll get there. Miss one... and you’re running in circles. Are you using both to scale your coaching business right now? 👇🏽 ♻ Repost to help your network. ✅ Follow me Kent Vanho, MBA for more on careers, coaching, and business.

“Oh, this is board meeting ready” We heard this from one of our new POCs that decided to put in their notice before they saw what we were doing for them. Frustrated with a lack of performance clarity, this POC took their past agency mental baggage and unloaded on us without asking if: 🔮We understand what their business goals are 🔮We understand what levers we have to achieve them 🔮We understand how to report on goal pacing After actually achieving goals, one of the biggest challenges for marketers is to show clear and concise progress towards goals. The simplest way we at @klientboost have found that way is through our “% vs %” graph. The first percentage is for the KPI, the second percentage is for time. Whatever the clients goals are, we can create a baseline and end state through a KPI and time delta. For example, if the goal is to achieve 100 SQLs per month, but the baseline is 60 SQLs/mo, then the math looks like this: KPI Baseline: 60 SQLs/mo KPI End State: 100 SQLs/mo KPI Delta: 40 SQLs/mo This means that any SQLs ABOVE 60 start calculating towards the “KPI %” (the first % in our “% vs % graph). Here are some examples: 🧮72 SQLs/mo = 30% of the way to goal (12 SQLs/mo divided by the delta of 40 SQLs/mo) 🧮87 SQLs/mo = 42.5% of the way to goal 🧮93 SQLs/mo = 82.5% of the way to goal The other % is the “Time %” - which all goals need to be true goals. You do the same thing with the time % as the you did with the KPI %: Time Baseline: Jan 1, 2025 Time End State: Mar 31, 2025 Time Delta: 90 Days So if 17 days have passed, you’d be at 19% of time passed (17 divided by 90 days). Now here’s where it gets fun. If the green line is ABOVE the red line when you check in week over week, you’re “on track” and you should keep doing what you’re doing. If the green line is BELOW and FAR away from the red line, then your pivots most likely need to be more aggressive, and you need to know the math levers of what has the highest impact before you just do “busy work” instead. This helps focus resources on the right things while being more surgical instead of throwing spaghetti on the wall too. Try it out with your other stakeholders. You’ll quickly find that your 73 page PDF report can be thrown in the trash because no one reads it anyways.

Expecting your team to perform better without tracking KPIs is like expecting a plant to grow without water. If you’re not tracking KPIs, you’re not managing your team—you’re just hoping they’ll figure it out. And I hate to break it to you, but hope isn’t a strategy. In fact, it’s setting you and your team up for a major faceplant. KPIs aren’t just numbers. They’re the pulse of your business. The roadmap. They tell you exactly where you’re winning, where you’re tanking, and where your team might be grinding their wheels without making progress. And without them? Well, you’re essentially steering your business in the dark. Here’s why KPIs are everything and some dead-simple tips to make tracking them second nature. 1. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗞𝗣𝗜𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 Your team shouldn’t have to decode some corporate lingo to understand what you’re tracking. If the KPI is “grow revenue,” spell it out: “Increase monthly revenue by 20%.” No jargon. No fluff. Just a clear goal. 2. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 KPIs only work if they’re actionable. If you’re checking on them quarterly or even monthly, it’s too late to course-correct. By then, the damage is done. Set up a weekly KPI dashboard. Use a tool like ClickUp or even Google Sheets. Update it regularly so your team can see exactly where they stand every week. 3. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 “𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝘀. 𝗟𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴” 𝗞𝗣𝗜 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 Most people track “lagging indicators,” like last month’s sales. That’s fine, but it’s backward-looking. You need leading indicators to know where you’re headed. ➝ Leading KPIs predict future success. Think daily sales calls, conversion rates, or leads generated. ➝ Lagging KPIs confirm what already happened. This includes revenue, monthly profit, and churn rate. You want a high-performing team? Start by giving them a map and a compass. That’s what KPIs are. Because at the end of the day, you can’t measure what you don’t track—and you can’t grow what you don’t measure.

THE ONE QUESTION THREE CLIENTS ASKED ME IN JULY AND WHAT I TOLD THEM. Mid-summer often brings out the truly strategic thinkers (and mild panic about how fast this year is flying by). Three of my coaching clients last month ended up working through goal resets for the second half of the year - not because anything was broken, but because smart leaders recalibrate at the midpoint instead of white-knuckling their way to December with a plan that made sense in January. THE Q3 RESET FRAMEWORK WE WORKED THROUGH: STEP 1: WHAT ARE THE 3 GOALS YOU NEED TO CRUSH TO HAVE AN OUTSTANDING YEAR? Not 7 goals. Not 5. 3 goals that would make you look back in December and think "that was an incredible year" instead of "thank God that's over." This isn't about abandoning your January priorities—it's about identifying what will actually matter in the next six months versus what seemed important six months ago. You’ve learned since then, and it’d be a shame not to integrate those findings going forward. STEP 2: HOW WILL YOU MEASURE PROGRESS TOWARD THOSE GOALS? For each goal, identify 3 key results you can track. If you can't measure progress weekly, your goal is too fuzzy. The measurement has to be simple enough that you'll actually do it when you're busy, stressed, and drowning in email. STEP 3: WHO DO YOU NEED TO ALIGN WITH OR MOBILIZE TO EXECUTE ON THEM? Who needs to understand these priorities? Who needs to step up their contribution? What decisions need to be delegated so you can focus on what only you can do? This isn't just about your team—it might include board members, key customers, or loved ones. STEP 4: LEARN FROM WHAT DIDN'T WORK IN THE FIRST HALF What systems collapsed under pressure? What took three times longer than your timeline suggested? What assumptions got murdered by reality? Use that education to build the next plan. STEP 5: SET UP YOUR TRACKING CADENCE Weekly check-ins, monthly reality checks, quarterly "are we still sane?" reviews. The midyear reset isn't admitting failure—it's strategic course correction with six months of battle-tested intelligence. What are your 3 goals for an outstanding second half of 2025? *** I’m Jennifer Kamara, founder of Kamara Life Design. Enjoy this? Repost to share with your network, and follow me for actionable strategies to design businesses and lives with meaning. Want to go from good to world-class? Join our community of subscribers today: https://lnkd.in/d6TT6fX5