If you’ve ever set OKRs or team goals, you know the drill: everyone’s fired up at the start, but a month later, nobody’s looking at them. It’s not that your team doesn’t care—it’s just too easy for goals to get lost in the noise of daily work. If you want to actually track progress and keep everyone aligned, you need a process that fits the way real teams operate. This guide is for managers and team leads who use Fellow and want to make goal-tracking less of a chore (and a lot more useful).
1. Get Real About Why You’re Tracking OKRs
Before you start clicking around and adding goals, ask yourself: what’s the point? Are you just checking a box for leadership, or do you actually want to make progress as a team? Be honest. If you’re not clear on the “why,” no tool will save you from wasted effort.
- If you want to drive focus: Use OKRs to set clear priorities and keep people from chasing shiny objects.
- If you want visibility: Make progress (or lack of it) obvious, so nobody’s surprised at the end of the quarter.
- If you just want to look busy: Save everyone the hassle and skip the setup.
2. Pick the Right Goals (and Don’t Overdo It)
The biggest mistake? Setting too many OKRs or goals. In Fellow, you can add as many as you like, but that’s not a good thing. Here’s what works better:
- Limit yourself to 1–3 OKRs per team per quarter. Any more, and you’ll dilute focus.
- Be specific. “Improve customer experience” is vague. “Reduce average support response time from 10 hours to 4 hours” is clear.
- Skip the fluff. If a key result is just “keep doing my job,” it’s not an OKR.
Pro tip: Don’t be afraid to say “no” to goals that don’t matter right now. It’s fine to park ideas for later.
3. Set Up Your OKRs and Team Goals in Fellow
Fellow makes it easy to add and organize goals, but you’ll get more out of it if you keep things simple from the start.
Step-by-step setup:
- Create a “Goals” section for your team.
- Use Fellow’s built-in goals feature—don’t bury OKRs in meeting notes or random docs.
- Add your top-level Objectives.
- These are the big, inspiring things you want to achieve. Keep them short.
- Break them down into Key Results.
- Make each key result measurable. If you can’t put a number on it, it’s probably too fuzzy.
- Assign owners.
- Every key result should have a real person responsible—not “the team.”
- Set due dates and check-in frequency.
- Don’t just set a date for the end of the quarter. Decide how often you’ll review progress (weekly or biweekly works for most teams).
What to ignore: Don’t micromanage by turning every task into a key result. OKRs aren’t a to-do list.
4. Make OKRs Part of Your Meeting Rhythm
The best way to keep OKRs alive is to build them into meetings you’re already having. Otherwise, they’ll gather dust.
- Add OKR check-ins to your team meeting agenda. Even five minutes is enough.
- Use Fellow’s integration with meetings. You can link goals to meeting notes, so progress updates don’t get lost.
- Ask owners for quick updates. “Red/yellow/green” status works. Don’t let it turn into a status theater.
Pro tip: If you’re short on time, just focus on what’s off-track. Celebrate wins, but spend your energy unblocking problems.
5. Update Progress Honestly (Not Just for Show)
Fellow lets you update progress with a click, but the value comes from being real about what’s actually happening.
- Update numbers weekly or biweekly. Don’t wait until the end of the quarter—course-correct early.
- Be blunt about blockers. If something’s stuck, say so. It’s better to fix it now than explain it away later.
- Don’t fudge the numbers. You’re not fooling anyone, and it only makes things worse down the line.
What doesn’t work: Setting up OKRs and then ignoring them until review time. If you’re not updating, you’re not tracking.
6. Use Comments and Notes for Context
Numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Use Fellow’s comments and notes features to add context:
- Explain why something’s behind. A quick note is enough.
- Share wins or lessons learned. It helps everyone improve next time.
- Flag risks early. Don’t wait for things to go sideways.
Pro tip: If you find yourself writing essays, your OKRs are probably too complex.
7. Review and Reflect—But Keep It Low-Drama
At the end of the cycle, don’t just check boxes. Actually look at what worked and what didn’t.
- Run a short OKR review with your team.
- What did we hit? What did we miss? Why?
- Be honest about misses.
- If you hit 100% of your OKRs, they were probably too easy.
- Decide what to drop, tweak, or double down on next time.
- Don’t just copy-paste old goals.
What to ignore: Don’t waste time on long post-mortems unless something really blew up.
8. Keep It Visible (But Not Overwhelming)
Fellow is good at surfacing goals, but it’s up to you to make sure people see them.
- Pin goals to your team’s workspace or dashboard.
- Link to OKRs in relevant docs or Slack channels.
- Remind people gently—not with nagging emails, but by bringing them up in real conversations.
Pro tip: If people can’t find the goals in under 30 seconds, they’ll stop caring about them.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t
- Works: Simple, focused OKRs. Regular, fast updates. Making goals part of real work, not just a side project.
- Doesn’t work: Over-complicating things with dozens of OKRs or endless check-ins. Treating OKRs as an afterthought.
- Ignore: Fancy dashboards and integrations until your basic process actually works. Tools are only as good as the habits around them.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Go
You don’t need a 20-step system or the perfect template. The best way to track OKRs and team goals in Fellow is to keep things straightforward: pick a few real goals, check in on them regularly, and actually use what you learn. If something’s not working, tweak your process—don’t just double down on busywork. Keep it simple, be honest, and you’ll actually see progress.