You've set great OKRs. You understand the translation gap. Now it's time for the most important part: building a system that turns quarterly goals into weekly habits. This chapter gives you everything you need.
The Weekly Execution System
The system has three components that work together:
Quarterly Setup
Decompose OKRs into weekly focus areas
1-2 hours/quarter
Weekly Planning
Review priorities and plan the week
5-10 min/week
Weekly Check-in
Quick progress update and alignment
5 min/person/week
Total time investment: about 25 minutes per week. Total time saved: 2+ hours per week on meetings, confusion, and misaligned work.
Step 1: Quarterly Setup (1-2 hours)
At the start of each quarter, you need to break down your OKRs into weekly focus areas. This is the most important step—it's what bridges the translation gap.
The Decomposition Process
For each key result, ask yourself these questions:
🔍 Decomposition Questions
What needs to happen in the first 4 weeks to make meaningful progress on this key result?
What are the key milestones along the way? When should each be complete?
What dependencies or blockers might slow us down? How do we address them early?
If we could only focus on one thing per week, what would it be for each week?
A Complete Example
Let's walk through decomposition for a real OKR:
Create customers who are so successful they become advocates
Increase NPS from 35 to 50
Now when Week 5 arrives, the team doesn't wonder what to do. The strategic focus is already defined. They spend 5 minutes reviewing the plan, add any operational work, and get started.
Pro Tip: Break It Down Early
Decomposition is hard because you need to think through the whole quarter at once. The key is asking the right questions and defining focus areas for each key result before the quarter starts. Don't rush this step—it's the foundation of your entire quarter.
Step 2: Weekly Planning (5-10 minutes)
Every Monday (or Friday for the week ahead), each team member opens their weekly plan. The goal is simple: clarity on what matters this week.
The Weekly Planning Flow
Review Strategic Priorities (2 min)
Look at the pre-populated focus area from your quarterly decomposition. This is your strategic north star for the week.
Add Operational Work (3 min)
What else needs to happen this week? Customer calls, bug fixes, admin tasks. Add these as operational priorities.
Balance the Mix (2 min)
Aim for 60% strategic, 40% operational. If operational work is crowding out strategic work, something needs to change.
Commit and Start (1 min)
Lock in your plan. Now you know exactly what to work on. No more Monday morning confusion.
Strategic vs. Operational Work
This distinction is crucial. Most teams conflate the two, leading to strategic work getting constantly deprioritized.
| Strategic Work | Operational Work |
|---|---|
| Drives OKRs forward | Keeps the lights on |
| Creates future value | Maintains current value |
| Often not urgent | Often feels urgent |
| Product improvements, experiments, initiatives | Bug fixes, customer support, admin |
| Target: ~60% of time | Target: ~40% of time |
The 60/40 Rule
If you're spending less than 50% of your time on strategic work, you'll never hit your OKRs. Operational work expands to fill available time. Protect strategic time fiercely.
Step 3: Weekly Check-in (5 minutes)
At the end of each week (or early the following week), everyone does a quick check-in. The goal isn't reporting—it's alignment and adjustment.
The 5-Minute Check-in Flow
What got done? (2 min)
Quick summary of strategic and operational work completed. Focus on outcomes, not activities.
What's blocked? (1 min)
Any obstacles preventing progress? Flag them early so they can be resolved.
Any adjustments needed? (2 min)
Does next week's plan need to change based on what you learned this week? Adjust now.
Team vs. Individual Check-ins
There are two ways to run check-ins:
Async Check-ins (Recommended for Most Teams)
Each person completes their check-in independently. Leaders get a compiled view showing everyone's progress. No meeting required.
- Best for: Remote teams, teams that value async work
- Time: 5 minutes per person
- When: End of week or Monday morning
Sync Check-ins (Quick Stand-up Style)
Team gathers briefly. Each person shares their update in 60 seconds. Total meeting time: 10-15 minutes for a team of 8-10.
- Best for: Co-located teams, teams that need more alignment
- Time: 10-15 minutes total
- When: Monday morning or Friday afternoon
Anti-Pattern: Status Meetings
Don't turn check-ins into status meetings. The goal isn't accountability theater—it's genuine alignment. If check-ins feel like homework, you're doing them wrong.
Making the System Stick
The best system in the world is useless if nobody uses it. Here's how to make weekly execution a habit:
1. Start Small
Don't try to implement everything at once. Start with:
- Decompose just one OKR for the current quarter
- Do weekly planning for just that OKR
- Run one weekly check-in
- Expand once the habit is formed
2. Make It the Default
Weekly planning should be where your week starts—not an add-on. Block 15 minutes Monday morning for planning. Protect this time.
3. Lead by Example
If leaders don't use the system, nobody will. Leaders should be the most consistent planners and check-in completers.
4. Celebrate Progress
Acknowledge when strategic work gets done. Share wins in check-ins. Make OKR progress visible and celebrated.
Common Problems and Solutions
😰 "Operational work keeps crowding out strategic work"
This is the #1 challenge. Try these:
- Block strategic time in your calendar first thing each day
- Audit operational work—is all of it really necessary?
- Delegate or automate recurring operational tasks
- Say no to new operational requests that aren't critical
😴 "People aren't doing check-ins"
Check-in completion drops when they feel pointless:
- Make check-ins easier (5 questions max, 5 minutes max)
- Actually use check-in data in team discussions
- Have leaders complete check-ins consistently
- Celebrate progress surfaced through check-ins
🎯 "Our weekly focus keeps changing"
Some flexibility is good, but constant changes signal a problem:
- Distinguish between adjustments (normal) and pivots (concerning)
- Ask: "Is this new thing more important than our OKRs?"
- Push back on scope creep—protect the original plan
- If priorities really did change, formally update the OKRs
What Results to Expect
Teams that implement this weekly execution system typically see:
Most importantly: teams report actually hitting their goals instead of abandoning them by Week 3.
Implementing the System
You can implement this system with different tools:
Option 1: Spreadsheets
Create a shared spreadsheet with quarterly OKR breakdown and weekly planning tabs. Pros: Free, flexible. Cons: Manual, no automation, easy to ignore.
Option 2: Project Tools + Discipline
Use Notion, Asana, or similar to track OKRs and weekly plans. Pros: Tools you already use. Cons: Not designed for this workflow, requires discipline to maintain.
Option 3: Purpose-Built OKR Execution Tools
Tools like Loach are specifically designed for the weekly execution workflow. Pros: Guided decomposition questions, pre-populated priorities, built-in check-ins. Cons: Another tool to adopt.
Our Recommendation
Start with whatever gets you going fastest. If spreadsheets work for your team, use spreadsheets. The system matters more than the tool. That said, teams using purpose-built tools have 3x higher adoption because the tool makes the system easier to follow.
Conclusion: The Monday Morning Test
Here's the ultimate test of your OKR system: When your team arrives Monday morning, do they know exactly what to work on?
If the answer is no—if there's confusion, guessing, or defaulting to inbox zero—then your OKRs aren't driving behavior. They're just documentation.
The weekly execution system changes that. By decomposing OKRs into weekly focus areas, planning each week with strategic priorities pre-populated, and running quick check-ins to stay aligned, you bridge the translation gap.
Your OKRs stop collecting dust. Your team stops spinning their wheels. And Monday morning becomes the most productive part of your week.