A free OKR template and weekly check-in script

This is a complete OKR template and weekly check-in script you can copy into a doc or spreadsheet today, no software required. It includes an Objective block, a Key Result table with baseline, target, current, and pace columns, a 15-minute weekly check-in agenda with minute marks, and a quarter-end retrospective outline.

Use it as-is, or read the weekly OKR check-in for more on why the weekly habit matters more than the template itself.

The OKR template

Copy this block per Objective. Most teams run 2 to 4 of these per quarter.

Objective: [A qualitative statement of the outcome you want. Not a task.]
Owner: [Who is accountable for this Objective overall]
Quarter: [e.g. Q3 2026, weeks 1-13]

Key Results table

Fill in each column like this:

• Key Result: A specific, measurable outcome. “Lift week-1 activation from 38% to 55%,” not “improve onboarding.”
• Owner: One person. Not a team, not “everyone.” If a Key Result doesn’t have a name next to it, it will not get updated.
• Baseline: The number on day 1 of the quarter.
• Target: The number you’re aiming for by the last day of the quarter.
• Current: Updated weekly. This is the only cell that should change every week.
• Pace: A simple flag: Ahead, On track, or Behind, based on the math below.

How to calculate the Pace column

Pace compares two percentages: how far you are through the quarter, and how far you are through the distance from baseline to target.

Time elapsed % = weeks elapsed / 13
Progress %     = (current - baseline) / (target - baseline)

If Progress % is roughly equal to or ahead of Time elapsed %, mark it On track or Ahead. If Progress % is meaningfully behind Time elapsed %, mark it Behind.

Worked example: baseline 38%, target 55%, current 46%, in week 6 of 13.

Time elapsed % = 6 / 13 = 46%
Progress %     = (46 - 38) / (55 - 38) = 8 / 17 = 47%

Progress is roughly matching time elapsed, so this Key Result is On track. Now compare that to the same Key Result at week 10 still sitting at 46%:

Time elapsed % = 10 / 13 = 77%
Progress %     = 47% (unchanged)

Time elapsed jumped to 77% while progress stalled at 47%. That’s Behind, and it’s the kind of gap that’s easy to miss if you’re only glancing at “46% of target” without the time comparison next to it.

The 15-minute weekly check-in script

Run this every week, same day, same time, for all 13 weeks. Keep it to the Key Result owners plus whoever owns the Objective.

Minute 0-2: State the numbers. Each owner reads their Current value out loud for every Key Result they own. No discussion yet, just the numbers. If a number didn’t change since last week, say so.

Minute 2-4: Flag pace. Go through the Pace column. Anything marked Behind gets circled for discussion. Anything On track or Ahead gets a quick acknowledgment and moves on. Don’t discuss the good news, just confirm it.

Minute 4-12: Discuss what’s Behind. For each Key Result marked Behind, the owner answers three things in under two minutes each:

1. What’s the one thing that’s blocking this?
2. What’s the next concrete action, and by when?
3. Do you need help, or do you have it?

This is not a status update. It’s a decision-forcing function. If an owner can’t answer question 2 with something specific, that’s the real problem to solve, not the metric itself.

Minute 12-14: Confirm actions and owners. Read back the list of next actions and who owns each one. This is the part that actually changes what happens this week, so don’t skip it even when you’re short on time.

Minute 14-15: Close. Confirm the same time next week. That’s it.

Quarter-end retrospective outline

Run this once, in the final week of the quarter, after 13 weeks of check-ins have already told you most of the story.

1. Final scoring. For each Key Result, record the final Current value and a score from 0.0 to 1.0 (current progress divided by the baseline-to-target distance, capped at 1.0).
2. What landed, and why. For each Objective, one sentence on what worked. Tie it back to something concrete from the weekly check-ins, not a post-hoc guess.
3. What slipped, and why. Same format, for anything that missed target. Look back at when the Pace column first flipped to Behind. Was it week 4? Week 9? The earlier it flipped and nothing changed, the more this is a process gap, not a bad quarter.
4. One change for next quarter. Not five. Pick the single adjustment, whether it’s fewer Objectives, better-written Key Results, or a consistent weekly time slot, that would have made the biggest difference.
5. Carry-forward decision. For each Key Result that missed target, decide explicitly: carry it into next quarter, fold it into a new Key Result, or drop it. Don’t let it silently disappear.

This entire template works in a shared doc or a spreadsheet. The only discipline it requires is showing up to fill in the Current and Pace columns every week, which is exactly what the weekly OKR check-in is built around.

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