Foundation Okr Writer

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 2abfbb961d31 · 19 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publisherproduct-on-purpose GitHub organizationOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source folderproduct-on-purpose/pm-skills/skills/foundation-okr-writerThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceApache-2.0As the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict2abfbb961d31A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 1 day ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Drafts, reviews, rewrites, and coaches outcome-based OKR sets across team, department, product, or company scopes. Supports five entry modes (Guided default, One-Shot via --oneshot, Sustained Coach, Audit Only,…

---
name: foundation-okr-writer
description: Drafts, reviews, rewrites, and coaches outcome-based OKR sets across team, department, product, or company scopes. Supports five entry modes (Guided default, One-Shot via --oneshot, Sustained Coach, Audit Only, Rewrite). Diagnoses empowered-team context and adjusts framing; refuses to fabricate baselines or targets; refuses to use OKR scores for compensation; reframes feature-delivery KRs into outcome KRs. Use when planning quarterly OKRs, translating strategy into team outcomes, reviewing draft OKRs for quality, or converting roadmap-as-OKR drafts into proper OKR sets.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  classification: foundation
  version: "1.1.0"
  updated: 2026-04-30
  category: coordination
  frameworks: [triple-diamond, okrs, lean-startup]
  author: product-on-purpose
---
<!-- PM-Skills | https://github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills | Apache 2.0 -->
# OKR Writer

An OKR (Objectives and Key Results) set is a quarterly artifact that translates strategy into measurable outcomes a team commits to drive. OKRs are a focus and learning system, not a project plan, KPI dashboard, performance review device, or roadmap wrapper. Done well, they make priorities explicit, force tradeoffs, enable cross-team alignment, and create visible evidence of progress. Done poorly, they generate roadmap theater, compensation gaming, and false precision.

This skill is a coach, not a template filler. It drafts, reviews, rewrites, and audits OKR sets against the empirical consensus drawn from Doerr (`Measure What Matters`), Wodtke (`Radical Focus`), Cagan (SVPG team objectives), Castro (outcome-vs-output), Grove (`High Output Management`), Torres (continuous discovery), and Gothelf and Seiden (`Outcomes Over Output`).

## Supported Modes

Five entry modes support different engagement levels. Mode is detected from user phrasing; default to Guided when ambiguous. State the detected mode at the start of the response.

- `Guided` (default, moderate engagement) - brief diagnostic, draft, score against rubric, surface issues, ask user to confirm. Selected by phrasing like "help me write OKRs for X."
- `One-Shot` (low engagement) - produces a complete OKR set in one pass with all assumptions labeled. Selected by `--oneshot` flag or phrasing like "just draft OKRs from this context."
- `Sustained Coach` (high engagement) - iterative loop, one component at a time, re-scored each turn until quality threshold met. Selected by "coach me through OKRs for X."
- `Audit Only` - user pastes existing OKRs, skill scores and critiques, no new drafts unless user asks. Selected by "review these OKRs."
- `Rewrite` - convert flawed OKRs, feature lists, or roadmap items into outcome-shaped OKRs. Selected by "fix these OKRs" or "convert this roadmap to OKRs."

## When to Use

- Planning OKRs at company, department, product, product-area, team, or initiative scope
- Translating parent OKRs or strategy into team OKRs
- Reviewing a draft OKR set for quality (Audit Only mode)
- Reframing feature, roadmap, or initiative lists into outcome-based OKRs (Rewrite mode)
- Preparing OKRs for stakeholder review
- Identifying whether KRs are measurable and evidence-backed

## When NOT to Use

- You only need a dashboard spec - use `measure-dashboard-requirements`
- You only need event tracking - use `measure-instrumentation-spec`
- You only need an experiment - use `measure-experiment-design`
- You only need a hypothesis - use `define-hypothesis`
- The cycle has ended and you need formal scoring with evidence and learning synthesis - use `measure-okr-grader`
- The team is purely business-as-usual and needs steady-state KPIs, not stretch outcomes - OKRs are the wrong artifact

## Instructions

When asked to write or review OKRs, follow these steps:

1. **Detect mode**
   Read the user's phrasing and classify into Guided, One-Shot, Sustained Coach, Audit Only, or Rewrite. Look for explicit signals (`--oneshot`, "review these," "fix these," "coach me"). Default to Guided when ambiguous. State the detected mode at the start of the response.

2. **Run the empowered-team diagnostic** (skip in Audit Only when no new drafting is happening)
   Ask briefly:
   - Are features, projects, or dates already committed for this cycle?
   - Can the team change initiatives mid-cycle if KRs are not moving?
   - Who decides what gets built, this team or someone else?

   Capture the answer as `empowerment_signal: empowered | feature-team | mixed | unknown`. This affects output framing in later steps. Do NOT refuse to proceed when feature-team signals are present; instead, plan to add a Disclosure section to the artifact.

3. **Determine if OKRs are the right artifact**
   If the request is really a project plan, KPI dashboard, launch checklist, hypothesis, experiment, or status update, redirect to the appropriate pm-skill or chain. Do not force OKR shape onto non-OKR work.

4. **Classify operating context**
   Capture scope (company | department | product | product-area | team | initiative), cycle (quarter | half | annual | launch window | custom), level, and OKR type (committed | aspirational | learning | operational_health | compliance_or_safety). Default cycle is quarterly when context is missing.

5. **Extract or infer strategic intent**
   Identify the parent objective, strategy pillar, customer problem, or business pressure that motivates this OKR set. If none is supplied, ask once before drafting.

6. **Separate outcomes from work**
   Move features, tasks, projects, launches, hiring counts, and activity counts into Initiatives. The OKR is what changes in the world; Initiatives are bets on how to make that change happen. Apply Castro's litmus test: "if it can go in your backlog, it is not an outcome."

7. **Draft or improve the Objective**
   The Objective is qualitative, specific, directional, and cycle-appropriate. It describes a desired state change, not a project. It connects to strategy. It avoids embedded metrics

Excerpt, first 6,000 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

git clone https://github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills
git -C pm-skills checkout 2abfbb961d31

Works in

1. 2026-10-19
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 2abfbb961d31

Questions about Foundation Okr Writer

• github.com/product-on-purpose/pm-skills/tree/main/skills/foundat — the audited source at commit 2abfbb961d31 and every finding aboveObserved · 19 Oct 2026

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