Aligning Projects with Business Strategy Using OKRs

Carsten Ley
Jun 5
5 min read

Feeling disconnected from your company's overall goals can kill motivation. Are you questioning the purpose of your projects, only to find the strategic objective is vaguely defined, like simply “building an app?” If you're struggling to link your projects to the larger organizational vision, this episode is for you. Carsten Ley, an expert in project management and OKRs, provides valuable insights on using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to align project delivery with overarching business strategy. Learn how integrating OKRs into your project management can boost alignment, measure impact, and keep your team focused on the big picture.

Interview Highlights with Carsten Ley

Understanding OKRs and Their Importance [02:15]
- OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) align cross-functional teams and are increasingly valuable for project managers.
- Traditional annual KPIs often miss true business impact. OKRs emphasize shorter cycles (3–6 months) and tangible outcomes.
- OKRs foster alignment with strategic objectives and collaboration across departments, breaking down silos.
- Break project objectives into shorter, measurable goals that fit within OKR cycles.
- OKRs include both input (tasks) and output (business impact) key results, pushing teams to demonstrate value quickly.
- Projects should deliver testable, customer-facing results within each OKR cycle, not just internal progress.
- This demands faster iteration, market feedback, and potential replanning based on short-term results.
- Project objectives should include cross-functional key results (e.g., sales, marketing, development) to ensure unified alignment.
- Example: A startup built an event photo app for photographers without validating market demand.
- Photographers weren't interested; event organizers, seeking easier photo distribution, were the true market.
- The team wasted months building unneeded features due to poor research and user testing.
- OKRs prevent this by focusing on business impact, early stakeholder involvement, and validating outcomes with real users.
- Development teams shouldn’t work in isolation; UI/UX and customer feedback are crucial in early phases.
OKRs and Agile: A Perfect Match? [14:59]
- Agile teams excel operationally, but OKRs ensure alignment with broader strategic goals.
- OKRs bridge the gap between sprint-level planning and top-level business objectives.
- Most Agile teams plan multiple sprints ahead, aligning well with 3-month OKR cycles.
- OKRs shouldn’t add workload; integrate them into existing sprint reviews and planning.
- OKRs bring structure and measurable outcomes, helping teams show their contribution to strategic goals.
- OKRs encourage data-driven sprint reviews, avoiding vague updates.
- OKRs boost team motivation by connecting daily work to a meaningful purpose.
- Telling developers to simply “build an app” is uninspiring.
- Framing the objective around impact – like helping companies measure their carbon footprint – creates engagement.
- OKRs align tasks with the company’s mission, making work more purposeful.
- OKRs inspire and empower team members to question misaligned tasks.
- Clear objectives give developers purpose beyond task completion.
- When work is tied to a meaningful goal (e.g., climate impact), team members can challenge deviations.
- This prevents demotivation and ensures alignment with the company’s mission.
Creating Effective OKRs [20:48]
- OKRs provide structure without significantly increasing workload.
- Startup strategy often spans 1–2 years, starting with broad yearly goals.
- Founders and team leads collaborate to define yearly objectives, broken into 3-month targets.
- OKRs are co-created with teams, aligning with Agile principles.
- Teams hold workshops to define measurable Key Results (KRs) tied to objectives (e.g., building/testing a prototype).
- OKRs act as a strategic backlog from which sprint tasks are drawn.
- Team/project leads are more involved, especially in yearly planning, even in larger organizations.
- Some companies use multi-level OKRs: company, department, and team.
- Department OKRs often reflect org charts, common in traditional organizations.
- OKRs are built collaboratively across levels, ensuring alignment and transparency.
- Bottom-up input means involving the next level (e.g., team leads in strategy discussions), not everyone.
- Example: A FinTech client surveyed 150 employees worldwide for strategy feedback, promoting engagement.
- Not all employees participate, but offering the option adds value.
- Example: Survey feedback softened aggressive company language, improving inclusiveness.
- OKRs should be co-created by relevant roles (e.g., project managers for PMO OKRs, project teams for project OKRs).
Educating Teams on OKRs [28:12]
- OKR training is provided at different levels to ensure buy-in and alignment.
- Education clarifies how OKRs differ from Agile, especially in focusing on outcomes and business impact.
- Inspirational objectives should tie to company strategy and purpose, not just tasks.
- Good key results measure impact (e.g. customer response, business success), not just activity.
- Training promotes a mindset shift: individuals should see themselves as responsible for the product’s overall success, not just their task.
- Cross-functional collaboration is key—OKRs break silos and foster shared ownership among teams like dev, UX, and sales.
"The real good key result is the impact of our work. Did the test customer like the fun shops? Did any of the five projects I worked on this year get launched and make money for the company? Those are the questions we should be measuring." - Carsten Ley
Culture Change and OKR Implementation [31:53]
- Cultural change towards cross-functional OKRs can cause conflict, mainly at the middle management level where leaders resist sharing control or data.
- Team-level conflict is rare due to transparent systems and regular check-ins.
- OKRs aren’t performance metrics like KPIs and shouldn’t be tied to bonuses, as that discourages collaboration and risk-taking.
- Carsten advises against using OKRs for performance-based compensation to preserve trust and innovation.
- To ease adoption, introduce OKRs as a "pilot" phase to reduce resistance and encourage experimentation.
"People are afraid to work cross-functionally and hesitant to try new things. Utilizing OKRs and Agile, we want people to experiment and share ideas within the project. But that gets shut down completely when you tie a bonus performance measurement to it." - Carsten Ley
Advocating for OKRs at the Team Level [35:57]
- Teams can pilot OKRs even if leadership isn't fully on board.
- Project teams already measure KPIs/KRs, so business-oriented key results are a natural extension.
- Teams should ask why a project is being done and align with other departments (e.g., sales) to measure broader impact.
- Collaborative OKRs with sales help teams measure product success and refine post-launch impact.
- Leaders should boldly ask about project objectives and alignment with company strategy.
- Not all teams need OKRs, but a team-level trial gauges interest and effectiveness.
- In traditional PMI, projects often end with a hard handoff, causing issues if initial input was wrong or if leadership changed.
- This can lead to escalations and conflict between teams post-handoff.
- Proactive collaboration with stakeholders during the project ensures success and a smooth transition.
- Addressing potential problems early prevents negative outcomes later.
The Role of PMOs in Strategic Planning [42:13]
- PMOs should be involved in strategic yearly planning discussions, not just project numbers.
- PMOs can create OKRs tied to business goals: product launches, market expansion, efficiency improvements.
- By incorporating bottom-up feedback, PMOs can propose projects that drive business success.
- Efficiency improvements often come from teams, not top-down mandates.
- PMOs can leverage cross-functional influence to run initiatives like surveys, encouraging innovation across the organization.

Closing Quote on aligning projects with business strategy using OKRs

"When aiming to be a long-term employee, you don’t just want to finish projects. You want to see that your projects have an impact on the company."

- Carsten Ley

Meet Our Guest:

Carsten Ley is the Co-Founder and Lead Project Management Consultant at Asia PMO and OKR Asia. He specializes in agile business transformation, project management, and customer experience strategies across Southeast Asia. With over two decades of experience, Carsten has led major programs for global organizations including Lazada, Citibank, Deloitte, Rolls-Royce, Volkswagen, and Home Credit. His focus areas include business transformation, customer experience, operations rollouts, sales, and employee performance. Carsten is known for his expertise in implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and has introduced the OKR+A (Objectives, Key Results, and Actions) methodology to enhance goal-setting practices. Carsten’s dynamic approach and commitment to fostering customer-centric cultures have established him as a prominent figure in project management and organizational development.