We tried implementing OKRs in 2024. Bought the software, ran the workshops, set quarterly objectives. Three months later, nobody was updating anything, and the OKR tool was just another tab nobody opened.

The problem wasn’t the methodology. It was that the software created more work than value. I spent last quarter testing six goal-tracking platforms to figure out what actually helps teams stay aligned without turning into performance theater.

What I Tested

Lattice ($11/user/month) — Full performance management suite.

15Five ($10/user/month) — Continuous performance management with OKRs.

Perdoo ($10/user/month) — OKR-specific platform.

Weekdone ($9/user/month) — OKRs and weekly check-ins.

Notion ($10/user/month) — Not OKR-specific, but flexible.

Google Sheets (Free) — The ultimate fallback.

The Over-Engineered Options

Lattice does everything: OKRs, performance reviews, engagement surveys, 1-on-1 tracking, feedback, goals. It’s trying to be your entire HR system.

For a large company (100+ people), that integration might make sense. For our 18-person team, it was overwhelming. The setup wizard asked about review cycles, competency frameworks, and calibration sessions. We just wanted to track quarterly goals.

$11/user/month isn’t expensive per se, but at 18 people that’s $198/month for features we don’t use. We abandoned it after two weeks.

15Five has the same problem but slightly better UX. The weekly check-in prompts are actually useful (“What’s going well? What’s challenging?”). The OKR module felt tacked on.

If you want continuous feedback culture, 15Five might work. If you just want goal tracking, it’s bloated.

The OKR-Specific Tools

Perdoo is built only for OKRs. The structure is rigid: Company objectives → Team objectives → Individual objectives. Key results must be measurable. It enforces best practices.

That rigidity is good and bad. Good: you can’t create vague, unmeasurable goals (the software won’t let you). Bad: if your team isn’t bought into OKR methodology, the tool feels like homework.

We used it for one quarter. The alignment features (seeing how your OKRs connect to company goals) were genuinely useful. The weekly progress updates became tedious. By week 8, people were just clicking “on track” without thinking.

Weekdone is similar but less strict. You can set OKRs or just use it for weekly planning. The flexibility made it easier to adopt, but also easier to ignore.

Both tools cost around $10/user/month. Both work fine if everyone’s committed to the process. Neither solves the fundamental problem: if people don’t care about goals, software won’t make them care.

What Actually Worked

Notion worked better than any OKR-specific tool. We created a simple database:

• Objective (text)
• Key Results (3 per objective, with targets)
• Owner (person)
• Status (On Track / At Risk / Off Track)
• Last Updated (date)

Every Monday, team leads updated their OKRs. It took 5 minutes. We reviewed them in the weekly all-hands (10 minutes).

No dashboards, no alignment charts, no progress graphs. Just a list of what we’re trying to do and whether it’s working.

Total cost: $180/month (18 people × $10), but we also use Notion for docs, project management, and wikis. The incremental cost of goal tracking was zero.

Google Sheets is the even simpler version. Create columns for Objective, Key Result, Owner, Target, Current, Status. Share the sheet, update it weekly.

It’s ugly. It works. I know teams using this successfully for years.

The advantage over Notion: zero learning curve. Everyone knows spreadsheets. The disadvantage: no commenting, no notifications, no polish.

What We Actually Needed

After testing six tools, here’s what mattered:

1. Visibility. Everyone needs to see everyone else’s goals. Hidden or siloed goals defeat the purpose.

2. Simplicity. If updating progress takes more than 5 minutes, people won’t do it.

3. Accountability. Public status updates (even just “on track” or “at risk”) create gentle pressure to make progress.

4. Integration with existing workflow. If the OKR tool is a separate system you have to remember to visit, it’ll die. Ours lives in Notion, which we use daily anyway.

What We Didn’t Need

Alignment visualizations. Perdoo’s tree diagrams showing how individual OKRs roll up to company goals look impressive in demos. In practice, we never looked at them.

Automated progress tracking. Some tools integrate with Jira, GitHub, analytics platforms to auto-update key results. Sounds great, rarely works well. The integration is fragile, the mapping is imprecise, and you lose context.

Review cycles and scoring. Formal OKR grading (0.0 to 1.0 scores) is useful for some teams. For us, it felt like bureaucracy. “On track” vs “at risk” is enough granularity.

The Implementation Learning

The software is 20% of the problem. The other 80% is culture and discipline.

We failed at OKRs in 2024 because:

1. Objectives were vague. “Improve customer satisfaction” isn’t actionable.

2. Key results weren’t measurable. “Launch new feature” is a project, not a key result.

3. Nobody cared. Leadership set OKRs because it seemed like best practice, not because we had alignment problems.

In 2025, we fixed those issues:

1. Objectives are specific. “Reduce customer support ticket volume by 40%” is clear.

2. Key results are measurable. “Publish 10 help docs addressing top 10 support issues” has a number.

3. We only set goals that matter. Three company OKRs, that’s it. Not every department needs OKRs. Not every person needs individual OKRs.

The tool (Notion) just provides a place to write them down and check in weekly.

The Real Recommendation

If you’re under 20 people: Notion or Google Sheets. Free-ish, no learning curve.

If you’re 20-100 people and serious about OKRs: Perdoo ($10/user/month). Structured, enforces discipline.

If you want lightweight goals without full OKR rigor: Weekdone ($9/user/month) or Notion.

If you’re 100+ people with HR infrastructure: Lattice or 15Five. The integration with performance reviews might justify the complexity.

If you’re unsure: Start with Google Sheets. If you can’t maintain goals in a spreadsheet, expensive software won’t save you.

The Honest Take

Most teams don’t need OKR software. They need clearer goals and a habit of reviewing them.

I’ve seen teams fail with Perdoo and succeed with Notion. I’ve seen teams succeed with Google Sheets and fail with Lattice. The tool is almost never the deciding factor.

If you’re considering OKR software, ask first: can we maintain goals in a shared document for one quarter? If yes, buy software to make it easier. If no, fix the process before adding tools.

OKR software is useful when it reduces friction. It’s harmful when it adds process overhead. Most platforms add overhead. Notion and Sheets reduce it. Start there.