How long should a weekly OKR check-in take?

Fifteen minutes, and most of that is reading. If it runs long, you have turned the check-in into a status meeting, which is the thing it is supposed to replace. The numbers are already written down; the meeting is only for the one or two key results that are off-pace.

Should the check-in be a meeting or async?

Async by default, with a short standing call only if something is red. Make everyone write their number and a one-line "why" before any call happens. Writing forces clarity that talking lets you dodge.

What do you do when a key result is off-pace?

You name it early and you decide one of three things: change the work, change the target, or accept the miss and say why. The failure is never being behind. The failure is being behind in silence until quarter-end, when it is too late to do anything about it.

Blog›OKR Check-In Templates

OKR Check-In Templates · 7 min read

The Weekly OKR Check-In Template I Actually Use

Most OKRs don't fail in the planning meeting. They fail in week 5, quietly, because nobody looked at them again until the quarter was over. The fix isn't a better goal. It's a weekly check-in that takes 15 minutes and that people actually do. Here's the exact template I've used for years, including the question everyone skips.

By Max Bondarenko · Last updated June 2026

The whole template, up front

I'll explain the reasoning below, but I hate posts that bury the thing you came for. So here it is. Five questions, answered async, once a week, per objective.

Weekly OKR check-in — 5 questions

01For each key result: what is the number today, and which way did it move since last week?
02What did we ship this week that should move one of these numbers, and when will we see it?
03Which key result are you most worried about, and what would it take to get it back on pace?
04Is anything outside this team blocking us that we need to escalate this week, not next?
05Knowing what we know now, is any target wrong? Revise in week 4, not week 12.

Why each question is there

Question one is the pulse. A number and a direction, nothing else. If someone can't tell you the current number, that's the finding for the week, and it usually means the metric isn't actually instrumented. Better to learn that in week 2 than week 11.

Question two connects work to outcome. It's the one that exposes teams shipping a lot of motion that touches none of the key results. If the honest answer three weeks running is "nothing we did this week maps to these numbers," the OKR and the roadmap have drifted apart, and that's worth a real conversation.

Question five is the one people skip, and it's the most important. A target you set with bad information is not sacred. Revising it in week 4 with a reason is honest and good. Discovering at quarter-end that everyone privately gave up in week 5 is the actual failure. Say it out loud while there's still time to act.

How to score, simply

Don't overthink scoring. I use three states, not a decimal that pretends to be precise.

On track	Pace matches the time left in the quarter. Keep going, say nothing more.
Behind	Pace is slipping but recoverable. Name the one thing that would fix it.
At risk	Won’t land without a real change. Decide: change the work, the target, or accept the miss.

Three states beat a fake-precise 0.0–1.0 score that nobody trusts anyway.

Run it async

Make everyone write their answers before any call. Writing forces a clarity that talking lets you dodge. Then hold a 10-minute standing call only if something is at risk. If everything's on track, cancel the call and give people the time back. A check-in that you can skip when things are healthy is one people will actually keep doing.

Stop running check-ins in a spreadsheet

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