How to Score OKRs: The Definitive Guide to OKR Grading
Last verified: February 2026
Overview
Scoring OKRs at the end of each quarter is how teams learn whether their goals were ambitious enough, whether they focused on the right things, and where to invest next. The scoring process should be fast, honest, and forward-looking.
The Standard 0.0–1.0 Scale
Most organizations use Google's original scoring approach:
| Score | Meaning | Color |
|---|---|---|
| 0.0–0.3 | Failed to make meaningful progress | Red |
| 0.4–0.6 | Made progress but fell short of the goal | Yellow |
| 0.7–1.0 | Delivered strong results | Green |
The target for well-set OKRs is 0.7. Consistently scoring 1.0 means your goals weren't ambitious enough.
How to Score Each Key Result
Metric-Based Key Results (Most Common)
Calculate the percentage of progress:
KR: Increase monthly active users from 10,000 to 25,000
- Actual: 19,500
- Score: (19,500 - 10,000) / (25,000 - 10,000) = 0.63
Binary Key Results
If the result was achieved or not:
- Achieved → 1.0
- Partially achieved → 0.3–0.7 (use judgment)
- Not achieved → 0.0
Milestone-Based Key Results
If the KR has defined stages:
- All milestones complete → 1.0
- 3 of 4 milestones → 0.75
- Scale proportionally
Scoring the Overall Objective
Average the Key Result scores, but use judgment:
Objective: Build a world-class onboarding experience
- KR1: Reduce time-to-first-value from 14 to 3 days → 0.8
- KR2: 30-day activation rate from 45% to 75% → 0.5
- KR3: Onboarding NPS 60+ → 0.7
Average: 0.67 — solid progress but room for improvement.
The Scoring Meeting
Before the Meeting
- Each OKR owner pre-fills their scores with supporting data
- Scoring should take 5 minutes per OKR, not 30
During the Meeting (30-60 minutes)
- Review each OKR — owner presents score and rationale
- Calibrate — team discusses if the score is accurate
- Extract insights — what worked, what didn't, what surprised you
- Decide on carry-forwards — which OKRs need another quarter
After the Meeting
- Finalize and publish scores transparently
- Archive the quarter's OKRs for reference
- Feed lessons into next quarter's OKR planning
Common Scoring Mistakes
- Score inflation — rating everything 0.7+ to look good defeats the purpose
- Ignoring context — a 0.4 during a crisis might represent heroic effort
- Scoring activities, not outcomes — "we shipped the feature" vs. "users adopted the feature"
- Skipping the reflection — the score itself matters less than the conversation around it
- Punishing low scores — this kills psychological safety and honest scoring
What to Do with Scores
- 0.0–0.3: Ask why. Was the goal wrong? Did priorities shift? Was there a blocker?
- 0.4–0.6: Investigate — was this sandbagged, or genuinely difficult? Should it continue next quarter?
- 0.7–1.0: Celebrate, then ask if the goal was ambitious enough.
- 1.0 consistently: Your goals are too easy. Push harder next quarter.
How Krezzo Helps
Krezzo simplifies scoring with auto-calculated progress based on tracked metrics, pre-populated score suggestions, and team calibration workflows. Historical scores are preserved for trend analysis across quarters.
Sources
- Doerr, John. Measure What Matters. Penguin, 2018.
- re:Work by Google. "Guide: Set Goals with OKRs."
- krezzo.com