Agent Skills: OKR Brainstorming Expert

OKR Brainstorming Expert

The agent generates and validates outcome-focused OKR sets using Christina Wodtke's Radical Focus methodology. It produces inspirational objectives with measurable key results, applies counter-metric tests, and scores quality against proven criteria.

Core Capabilities

• Theme-anchored generation — one theme per team per quarter; every OKR connects back to it
• 3 distinct OKR sets — each with a qualitative objective, 3 key results (primary, secondary dimension, counter-metric), and rationale
• Counter-metric testing — guards against gaming KRs by doing something harmful
• Automated validation — okr_validator.py scores sets and flags disguised tasks, missing metrics, output-framed KRs, and missing counter-metrics

When to Use

• Setting quarterly OKRs from a single team theme
• Validating existing OKRs against quality criteria before committing
• Aligning team goals to company objectives
• Teaching teams the difference between outputs and outcomes

Clarify First

Before generating the OKR sets, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• [ ] Quarterly theme — the single team theme for the quarter (every objective and KR must connect back to it; without it the sets are unfocused)
• [ ] Parent / company objective — the higher-level priority this team supports (sets the objective framing and the top-down alignment)
• [ ] Current baselines — today's values for the candidate metrics (turns KRs from aspirational guesses into measurable, gradeable targets)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Quick Start

python scripts/okr_validator.py --input okrs.json   # validate & score
python scripts/okr_validator.py --demo              # built-in good/bad demo

Any OKR set scoring below 70% must be revised before committing. See the references for the full workflow and input schema.

References

Load the reference that matches the task — keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:

• references/okr-workflow-and-examples.md — full step-by-step workflow, a worked quarterly OKR example, mistakes/KPI tables, troubleshooting, success criteria, and the okr_validator.py flag + JSON-schema reference. Read when generating OKRs or wiring up the validator.
• references/okr-best-practices.md — comprehensive OKR anatomy, scoring, and management guide using Radical Focus. Read for the deeper "why" behind the rules.
• references/red-flags.md — concrete bad-vs-good examples of common OKR failure modes and how to fix them. Read before sharing a draft OKR set.
• assets/okr_template.md — OKR document template and quarterly review format. Use when writing up the committed set.

Scope & Limitations

In Scope:

• OKR brainstorming using Christina Wodtke's Radical Focus methodology
• Generating 3 distinct OKR sets per theme with counter-metric testing
• Automated validation and scoring of OKR quality (output detection, metric presence, structural checks)
• Guidance on OKR vs. KPI vs. North Star Metric distinctions
• Common OKR mistake identification and remediation

Out of Scope:

• OKR tracking and progress monitoring over the quarter (use dedicated OKR platforms)
• Company-level OKR cascade and alignment across teams (see senior-pm/ for portfolio alignment)
• Individual performance-linked OKRs (OKRs should be team goals, not performance reviews)
• Metric instrumentation or analytics setup for measuring key results

Important Caveats:

• OKRs work best when combined with weekly check-ins. Teams that review OKRs only at quarter end see 30-45% lower completion rates.
• The validator catches structural issues but cannot assess strategic quality. A perfectly scored OKR can still be the wrong goal.
• OKRs should be aligned top-down (strategic direction) and bottom-up (team insight). Pure top-down OKRs reduce team ownership.

Integration Points

| Integration | Direction | Description | |------------|-----------|-------------| | scrum-master/ | Receives from | Sprint velocity and capacity data inform realistic KR target-setting | | senior-pm/ | Receives from | Portfolio strategic priorities shape quarterly OKR themes | | execution/outcome-roadmap/ | Feeds into | OKR key results become success metrics for roadmap Now/Next items | | execution/prioritization-frameworks/ | Complements | Prioritized initiatives inform which OKR theme to focus on | | discovery/identify-assumptions/ | Receives from | Validated assumptions increase confidence in OKR target feasibility | | discovery/brainstorm-experiments/ | Feeds into | Experiment metrics may become OKR key results when validated |