This is a case study of how Swipely, a restaurant management platform (now called Upserve) used OKRs to drive growth at a critical moment as the company grew from 30 to 80 employees in one year. CEO Angus Davis turned to OKRs to keep the young company on track and raise everyone’s game.

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Davis argues that while every company’s OKR strategy is different, the founding principles don’t change. He stresses the importance of making company and personal goals public, so that employees aren’t working in a vacuum. “Having public goals forces different types of thinking around how people ask for help from others,” says Davis.

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Davis kick-started the process by personally creating a series of ‘archetype’ OKR examples to share with colleagues. These included a ‘description’ of each objective, fleshing out its significance, and a piece on ‘alignment’ demonstrating how individual objectives aligned with company-wide goals. Davis insisted everyone include at least one skill development objective in their OKRs to foster a culture of constant coaching.

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This 12-minute article provides a detailed case study of one company’s adoption of OKRs and demonstrates how the process can keep a rapidly growing startup on track. Davis’s ‘archetype’ OKR examples are useful food for thought. Some of his key results may offend purists, because they include actions, not results (‘Review training materials’; ‘Do a role-playing session’) confirming Davis’s point is that ‘every OKR strategy is different.’