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Read time: 7 minutes

Welcome to Tactical Memo, my newsletter where I share frameworks, strategies, and hard-earned lessons for leaders navigating project execution, AI fluency, and leadership.

If you’re looking for my cheat sheets and deep-dive guides, the vault is linked at the bottom of this email.

👉 Why Read This Edition: You will learn how to separate OKRs from KPIs so your team can scale without confusion, wasted effort, or constant fire drills. Once you understand the difference, goal setting becomes clean, execution becomes predictable, and performance becomes measurable.

The Briefing: Today’s Focus

• Why leaders confuse OKRs and KPIs

• The rule that fixes your entire planning system

• A tactical playbook for separating them cleanly

• A reader’s question on metrics chaos

Why Leaders Confuse OKRs and KPIs

Most leaders talk about OKRs and KPIs like they are interchangeable.
They throw both into dashboards.
They report them the same way.
They ask teams to chase both simultaneously.

Then they wonder why:
Teams feel overwhelmed.
Execution feels aimless.
Progress feels invisible.
Everything feels urgent.

The truth is simple.
OKRs and KPIs do completely different jobs.
And when you mix them, you break your scaling engine.

The Rule: OKRs Create Change. KPIs Protect Stability.

If you remember nothing else from this edition, remember this:
OKRs push the business forward. KPIs keep the business upright.

OKRs are how you grow.
KPIs are how you avoid collapsing while you grow.

When leaders confuse them, they either:
Push too hard and burn out the team.
Or track everything and move nothing forward.

You need both.
But you need them separated.

A Tactical Playbook: How To Use OKRs and KPIs Correctly

(Do these steps and your planning system becomes clear, scalable, and calm)

1. Purpose

OKRs drive change. KPIs track health.

Do this right now:

• Write down your top five metrics.

• Circle the ones that represent improvement, growth, or movement. Label them OKRs.

• Circle the ones that represent stability, standards, or ongoing performance. Label them KPIs.

• Anything that does not fit either category gets removed.

If confused:
Ask, “Does this metric push us forward or keep us from falling behind.”

2. Timeframe

OKRs are quarterly. KPIs are daily or weekly.

Do this right now:

• Put your OKRs on a quarterly planning sheet.

• Put your KPIs on a dashboard your team sees every week.

• Remove any OKR from your weekly dashboards. They are not meant to move daily.

• Remove any KPI from your quarterly reviews. Those belong in operational updates, not strategy sessions.

If confused:
Ask, “Do we check this daily, weekly, or monthly.”

3. Focus

OKRs set destinations. KPIs check vitals.

Do this right now:

• Rewrite each OKR into a single future outcome. No more than one sentence.

• Rewrite each KPI into one number. No ranges. No paragraphs. No vague indicators.

• Share the OKR destinations with your team.

• Use KPIs only as signals. Green means healthy. Yellow means look closer. Red means take action.

If confused:
Ask, “Is this telling us where we are going or whether we are still healthy on the way.”

4. Structure

OKRs = Goal plus measurable steps.
KPIs = One clean metric.

Do this right now:

• For each OKR, list three key results that prove the goal was reached.

• Ensure each key result is measurable and binary. Achieved or not achieved.

• For each KPI, define the acceptable range. You must know what “healthy” looks like.

• Assign one owner per metric. Never assign a metric to a group.

If confused:
Ask, “Can this metric be read without explanation.” If not, it is an OKR.

5. Examples

OKR: Acquire 10,000 new users by Q3
KPI: Revenue at 500K per month

Do this right now:

• Audit your metrics. If an “OKR” looks like a KPI, rewrite it.

• For each OKR, calculate the weekly or monthly progress needed.

• For each KPI, set alerts or thresholds for when the team must take action.

If confused:
Ask, “Would a single number tell me enough.” If yes, it is a KPI.

6. Reality

OKRs stretch teams. KPIs maintain standards.

Do this right now:

• Choose exactly three OKRs for the next quarter. No more.

• Choose five to seven KPIs to track weekly. No more.

• Tell your team which three OKRs are stretch goals.

• Tell your team which KPIs cannot dip without immediate response.

If confused:
Ask, “Are we pushing or maintaining.” That one question fixes most planning mistakes.

Bottom Line

If you want your team to scale, OKRs and KPIs cannot live in the same bucket.
OKRs set direction.
KPIs keep the engine alive.

Most leaders drown in noise because they track everything and commit to nothing.
Use this playbook and you create clarity your team can act on instantly..

What’s Happening

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The Briefing: Reader’s Question

Q: “Our team tracks so many metrics that nobody knows what actually matters. How do I simplify the chaos without losing visibility?”

A:
Metric overload is a leadership failure, not a team failure.
When everything is tracked, nothing is managed.

Here is the tactical fix.
Start by splitting every metric into two buckets:
Change metrics and health metrics.
Anything that measures future movement is an OKR.
Anything that monitors stability is a KPI.
Everything else gets eliminated.

Second, choose a single owner per metric. One person, not a committee.

Third, assign cadence.
OKRs reviewed monthly.
KPIs monitored weekly.
No exceptions.

Finally, enforce a simple rule:
If a metric does not influence a decision, it does not get measured.

Chaos disappears when metrics connect to action.

Cheat Sheet Vault

p.s… As promised, click the link below to download my free cheat sheet and infographic vault.

👉 Access the Vault Here

Until next time,
Justin

✍️ From the Desk of Justin Bateh, PhD
Real-world tactics. No fluff. Just what works.