How to Run an OKR Quarterly Review: Step-by-Step Guide [2026]

An OKR quarterly review has three parts: score the current quarter’s OKRs (0.0-1.0 scale), run a retrospective on what worked and what didn’t, and draft objectives for next quarter. The whole meeting takes 60-90 minutes. This guide gives you the exact agenda, scoring method, and retrospective questions.

The quarterly review is where OKRs either become a learning engine or die as corporate theater. Most teams treat it as a formality: rush through scores, skip the retrospective, and copy-paste objectives into the next quarter. That’s how OKRs become meaningless paperwork.

A good quarterly review takes 90 minutes and produces three outputs: honest scores, actionable lessons, and focused goals for the next cycle.

Before the Meeting: Preparation Checklist

Complete these at least 48 hours before the review meeting.

Every OKR owner should:

• Calculate their key result scores (actual vs target)
• Write a 2-3 sentence summary per objective: what happened, what they learned
• Flag any OKRs that were abandoned or modified mid-quarter, with reasons

The meeting facilitator should:

• Compile all OKR scores into a single document
• Identify the top 3 wins and top 3 misses across the team
• Prepare the retrospective questions
• Block 90 minutes with no follow-up meetings (people need mental space after a review)

The 90-Minute OKR Review Agenda

Part 1: Scoring (30 minutes)

Each objective owner presents their scores. Keep it tight: 3-5 minutes per objective.

Scoring framework (Google’s 0.0-1.0 scale):

• 1.0: Fully achieved. (If this happens consistently, your goals aren’t ambitious enough.)
• 0.7-0.9: Strong progress. This is the target zone for stretch OKRs.
• 0.4-0.6: Partial progress. Meaningful work happened but significant barriers remain.
• 0.0-0.3: Little to no progress. Either the goal was wrong, the approach was wrong, or priorities shifted.

For each key result:

1. State the baseline, target, and actual result
2. Calculate the score: actual improvement / targeted improvement
3. One sentence on why it landed where it did

For each objective: Average the key result scores. A 0.7 objective score is healthy for ambitious OKRs.

Example scoring:

Objective: Make onboarding so intuitive that users complete setup without support

• KR1: Reduce support tickets during onboarding from 340/month to 100/month → Actual: 180/month → Score: 0.67
• KR2: Increase setup completion rate from 62% to 90% → Actual: 81% → Score: 0.68
• KR3: Reduce average setup time from 12 min to 5 min → Actual: 7 min → Score: 0.71

Objective score: 0.69 (solid progress, room to continue next quarter)

For more examples of well-structured OKRs to score against, see our OKR examples for product teams.

Part 2: Retrospective (30 minutes)

This is the most valuable part. Scores tell you what happened. The retrospective tells you why.

Five questions to ask the team:

1. Which OKR are we most proud of, and what made it work? Identify the success patterns you can repeat.

2. Which OKR disappointed us most, and what would we change? Not who failed. What about the goal, approach, or environment made it hard.

3. Did we have the right objectives? Sometimes you scored low because the goal was wrong, not because execution was poor. A mid-quarter pivot that killed an OKR might have been the right call.

4. How well did our weekly check-ins work? If the answer is “what weekly check-ins?” that’s your biggest lesson for next quarter.

5. What did we learn that should change how we set goals next quarter? Capture specific, actionable lessons. “We should be more focused” is too vague. “We should limit key results to 3 per objective because we couldn’t track 5 meaningfully” is actionable.

Document the retrospective answers. These notes are the bridge between quarters. They prevent you from repeating the same mistakes.

Part 3: Next Quarter Planning (30 minutes)

You won’t finalize next quarter’s OKRs in this meeting. The goal is to draft initial objectives that can be refined over the following week.

Step 1: Review company priorities (5 minutes) What are the 2-3 company-level objectives for next quarter? All team OKRs should align with these.

Step 2: Carry forward or retire (10 minutes) Some OKRs need another quarter. A 0.5 score on an important objective might mean you continue with adjusted targets. A 0.3 score might mean the approach was fundamentally wrong and you should try something different.

Decision framework:

• Score 0.7+: Objective achieved. Move to a new goal or raise the bar.
• Score 0.4-0.6: Consider carrying forward with revised key results and targets.
• Score below 0.4: Rethink the objective entirely. Is it still the right goal?

Step 3: Draft new objectives (15 minutes) Each team member proposes 1-2 objectives. Use this prompt: “What is the single most important outcome our team should drive next quarter?” Discuss, debate, and narrow to 3 objectives. Assign owners who will draft key results over the next week.

The Week After: Finalizing Next Quarter’s OKRs

The review meeting produces draft objectives. The refinement happens during the following week.

Day 1-2: OKR owners draft key results with baselines and targets. Day 3-4: Peer review. Each OKR owner reviews another team’s draft and asks: Are these outcomes or outputs? Are the targets ambitious but achievable? Do we have baseline data? Day 5: Final alignment meeting (30 minutes). Lock in the OKRs. Start the new quarter.

OKR Review Meeting Template

Copy this agenda for your next quarterly review:

OKR Quarterly Review - Q[X] [Year]
Duration: 90 minutes

PRE-WORK (due 48h before):
- All OKR owners: calculate scores, write summaries
- Facilitator: compile scores, identify top wins/misses

AGENDA:
[0:00-0:30] Scoring
  - Each owner: 3-5 min per objective
  - State baseline → target → actual → score
  - One sentence on why

[0:30-1:00] Retrospective
  - Proudest OKR and why
  - Most disappointing OKR and what we'd change
  - Right objectives?
  - Weekly check-in effectiveness
  - Lessons for next quarter

[1:00-1:30] Next Quarter Draft
  - Company priorities review
  - Carry forward vs retire decisions
  - Draft 3 new objectives
  - Assign owners for key result drafting

POST-MEETING:
  - Day 1-2: Draft key results
  - Day 3-4: Peer review
  - Day 5: Lock in and launch

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should an OKR quarterly review take?

90 minutes is the sweet spot for teams of 5-15 people. Smaller teams can finish in 60 minutes. Larger teams (15+) should consider splitting into department-level reviews of 60 minutes each, followed by a 30-minute cross-team alignment session. Never exceed 2 hours. If you need more time, your OKRs are too complex.

Who should attend the OKR quarterly review?

Everyone who owns or contributes to an OKR. For most product teams, that’s the full team: PMs, engineers, designers, and their direct manager. Skip-level leaders can attend as observers but shouldn’t dominate the conversation. The review belongs to the people who did the work.

What do you do when an OKR scores 0.0?

A 0.0 score means one of three things: the goal became irrelevant and was abandoned (document why), the team didn’t work on it (a prioritization failure worth discussing), or external factors made it impossible (market shift, dependency blocked). Treat it as a learning opportunity in the retrospective, not a performance failure.

Should OKR scores affect performance reviews?

No. Tying OKR scores to compensation or promotion decisions creates perverse incentives. People set easy goals to protect their ratings instead of ambitious goals that drive real impact. Google explicitly separates OKR scores from performance reviews. The OKR system is for learning and alignment, not evaluation.

How do you handle OKRs when team members change mid-quarter?

Reassign ownership immediately. The new owner reviews the current progress, adjusts their approach if needed, and takes over the weekly check-ins. Don’t let an OKR go orphaned. If a departure means the team can’t realistically achieve a key result, adjust the target during the next weekly check-in and document why.

Make the Review a Habit

The quarterly review is where OKRs compound. Each cycle builds on the lessons from the last one. Your second quarter of OKRs will be significantly better than your first. Your fourth will be dramatically better. The teams that get the most from OKRs are the ones that take the retrospective seriously and actually apply what they learn.