Why You Might Have Too Many OKRs (and What to Do About It)
OKRs are supposed to force focus. But there is an ironic failure mode where a team ends up with so many Objectives and Key Results that they achieve the opposite: nobody can remember what actually matters this quarter. If that sounds familiar, you probably have too many OKRs. Here is how to spot it and fix it.
The Symptom: Nobody Can Recall the OKRs
Ask anyone on the team, without letting them look it up, what the top two or three priorities are this quarter. If the answer is a shrug, or a guess, or "let me check," the OKRs have stopped functioning as a focusing tool. A goal-setting framework that people cannot recall is not really guiding anyone's daily decisions.
The Symptom: Everything Is "Priority One"
OKR sprawl often shows up as a long list where every item is treated as equally important. If there is no real ranking, no sense of what would get cut first if resources were tight, the list has stopped doing its job. A goal-setting system that cannot say no to anything is not actually setting priorities.
How Sprawl Happens
Nobody sets out to create ten Objectives with six Key Results each. It usually happens gradually. Each department wants its own Objective represented. Each stakeholder wants their initiative included. Each new idea gets added because saying no in the moment feels harder than just adding one more line. Over a few cycles, the list quietly grows until it stops being useful.
Why It Matters
Too many OKRs dilutes effort across too many fronts, which usually means slower progress on everything rather than solid progress on the things that matter most. It also makes weekly check-ins exhausting, since there is too much to review in the time available. Teams often respond by skipping check-ins altogether, which finishes off whatever value the OKRs still had. Harvard Business Review has made a similar case in Stop Chasing Too Many Priorities, noting that a surplus of competing priorities is one of the most reliable ways to stall progress on all of them.
How to Prune
Start by asking, for each Objective, what would actually go wrong if it were dropped this quarter. If the honest answer is "not much," it probably should not be there. Aim for a small number of company or team Objectives, each with a handful of Key Results. It is uncomfortable to leave things out, especially when everything feels important, but a shorter list that people actually track beats a long one that gets ignored.
Make Cutting a Regular Habit, Not a One-Time Fix
Pruning OKRs is not a one-time cleanup. It is a habit worth building into every planning cycle. Before adding a new Objective, ask what would need to come off the list to make room for it. This keeps the list honest over time instead of letting it slowly grow again next quarter. Tools like Easy OKR are deliberately built to make a short, visible list of goals the default experience, rather than encouraging an ever-expanding tree of objectives that nobody can hold in their head.
The Takeaway
More OKRs does not mean more focus. It usually means less. If your team cannot recall its own goals without checking a document, that is the clearest sign it is time to cut, not add. John Doerr makes the same point in Measure What Matters: fewer Objectives, chosen well, do more for a team than a long list ever will.
References
- Stop Chasing Too Many Priorities — Harvard Business Review
- Measure What Matters — John Doerr