Executing ambitious strategies is one of the hardest challenges organizations face today. Many teams struggle not because of a lack of ideas, but because of a disconnect between strategy and day-to-day execution. In this article, we explore how OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and Scrum can combine to create a powerful system that keeps organizations aligned, teams focused, and strategies moving forward.
By the end, you’ll understand how to use OKRs and Scrum not just as individual tools, but as complementary systems that bridge the gap between vision and action.
What Are OKRs and Scrum?
OKRs: Turning Strategy Into Measurable Progress
OKRs are a framework for executing ambitious strategies effectively. They are built on three core elements:
- Defining strategic and qualitative objectives, ideally involving key stakeholders early in the process.
- Defining key results to measure progress toward each objective, guiding teams with clear outcomes.
- Working in execution cycles, often combining longer organizational cycles (e.g., annual) with shorter team cycles (e.g., quarterly, biweekly check-ins).
In short, OKRs focus on aligning goals across the organization and ensuring teams always have strategic clarity. You can find much more about OKRs throughout our site.
Scrum: Managing Complex Work Effectively
While OKRs focus on goal alignment and measurement, Scrum provides a framework for how teams actually execute the work needed to achieve those goals.
Scrum was born in the software world, where defining, planning, and executing work in a detailed and reliable way can be extremely complex. Its two key characteristics are:
- An iterative and incremental approach: Large initiatives are broken down into smaller sprints (1–4 weeks). After each sprint, teams inspect and adapt their approach based on what they've learned.
- Self-managing, autonomous teams: Teams are empowered to make decisions and learn rapidly during the sprint, reducing external dependencies.
The official Scrum Guide is a great starting point if you want to learn more. You’ll also find plenty of resources and insights on our ITNOVE blog.
With the basics of OKRs and Scrum in mind, let’s explore the real-world challenges organizations face when trying to execute strategy—and how OKRs and Scrum can help.
Why Strategy Execution Often Fails
Despite good intentions, many organizations struggle to turn strategy into results. Common barriers include:
- Lack of a clear strategy, or poor communication of it to teams.
- Disconnect between executive strategy and team-level work.
- Focus on completing plans rather than achieving strategic outcomes.
- Siloed mindsets that prevent collaboration across departments.
- Daily operational pressures overwhelming strategic initiatives.
Underlying all these issues is a common thread: misalignment between what teams are doing and what the organization is trying to achieve.
That’s where OKRs and Scrum come in.
How OKRs Help Execute Strategy
OKRs create the essential bridge between strategy and execution through five key practices:
- Participative, joint creation: Leadership and teams work together to define objectives and key results, fostering vertical alignment and shared ownership.
- Structured cycles: Annual, quarterly, and weekly rhythms allow teams to correct course quickly based on real-world learning.
- Horizontal collaboration: Teams coordinate across functions, using transparent OKRs to align efforts horizontally.
- Outcome focus: Objectives and key results focus on customer impact and strategic value—not just task completion.
- Separation from performance reviews: OKRs are decoupled from performance evaluation, encouraging teams to aim high without fear of negative consequences.
For executives, this means clearer strategic execution and faster course correction.
For teams, it means visibility, autonomy, and relevance in their day-to-day work.
However, OKRs alone are not enough. To truly operationalize OKRs, teams also need a strong work management framework—and that’s where Scrum becomes crucial.
How Scrum Acts as the Execution Engine for OKRs
While OKRs bring focus and alignment, Scrum strengthens execution through structure and team dynamics. Here's how Scrum mitigates some common risks in OKR execution:
- Building autonomous teams: Scrum promotes the formation of cross-functional, self-managing teams with clear roles—Product Owners for prioritization, Developers for execution.
- Making work visible and prioritized: Scrum ensures clear medium-term goals (product goals), short-term goals (sprint goals), and a well-ordered backlog accessible to all stakeholders.
- Adding structure to OKR cycles: Sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives provide rhythm and rigor, preventing OKR cycles from drifting.
- Fostering continuous improvement: Each sprint includes a retrospective, allowing teams to adapt much earlier than the end-of-cycle OKR reviews.
In short: Scrum acts as a transmission belt that connects strategic goals (OKRs) to the real, tangible work happening in teams every day.
For leaders, this means consistent progress visibility.
For teams, it means clarity on priorities, faster learning loops, and a stronger sense of purpose.
Reflection and Action
When OKRs define where you want to go, and Scrum structures how you get there, organizations gain a powerful dual system for achieving ambitious goals.
Think about your own organization:
- Are you struggling with executing strategy effectively?
- Is there a disconnect between leadership goals and what teams are working on?
- Are your OKR cycles disciplined and actionable?
- Are your Scrum teams delivering outputs—or real strategic outcomes?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, integrating OKRs and Scrum could transform how you work. 📩 CONTACT ME.