Migration guide
Running OKRs alongside Primer
OKRs got you here. Primer can run beside them, not instead of them.
Respecting the system you already run
OKRs work. They are why your team has a shared vocabulary for ambition in the first place, and the discipline of setting quarterly KRs is genuinely hard won. This guide is not going to argue otherwise. What it will do is show how to translate the OKR shape you already use into Primer's goal, metric, and threshold model so you can run both for a cycle and let your own scoring data settle the question.
Translating OKR concepts into Primer
Five rows cover the core of any OKR system. Every Primer concept named below is already built in. No schema changes needed.
| Source concept | Primer equivalent | Translation note |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | strategic goal | Title and description carry the aspiration; due date carries the cycle. |
| Key Result (numeric) | metric in the quintile stack | Cleanest route for 'move this number' KRs, thresholds encode the achievement bands. |
| Key Result (initiative) | child goal linked as a supporting dependency | Cleanest route for 'ship this thing' KRs, the dependency graph captures the link. |
| Alignment / cascade | cascaded goal with an accept or defer workflow | Stricter than most OKR tools, a superior's KR is traceable down-tree and accepted or deferred in writing. |
| Confidence / grading | the resolution workflow plus the five tier rubric (alarm to optimized) | Tiers replace 0.0–1.0 scores with a rubric leaders read at a glance. |
Three ways to try Primer alongside what you already run
None of these ask you to give anything up. Pick the lowest cost option you can get away with. Your own data will tell you what fits.
Path 1: Concurrent
Run Primer concurrently for one cycle
Keep your OKR tool as the source of record. For one quarter, mirror the same Objectives and KRs into Primer as goals and metrics. Score both at the end of the cycle. Compare what each view said about the state of the business. Most teams find that the five-tier rubric matches what their skip-level meetings already conclude anyway.
Path 2: Combine
Combine them inside Primer
Instead of running two systems in parallel, fold your OKRs into Primer directly: strategic objectives become strategic goals, numeric KRs become metrics with tiered thresholds, and initiative KRs become dependent supports goals. Your OKR vocabulary is preserved; the underlying model gains weight, cadence, origin metadata, and an audit trail.
Path 3: A/B test
A/B test for a single cycle
Split one team's quarter. Half of the KRs get graded the OKR way (0.0–1.0 scoring); half get committed inside Primer with tiered thresholds and the accept/defer workflow. At quarter-end, ask the team which set of conversations was more useful, and let them keep whichever workflow they pick.
What Primer contributes beyond the standard OKR model
OKRs travel light by design. Primer carries extra metadata, none of it required, all of it optional to turn on. Here is what you gain if you do.
Tier rubric over 0.0–1.0 grading
Primer scores every metric against five named bands (alarm → concern → content → effective → optimized). Stakeholders stop debating whether 0.68 is 'good' and start reading health. You can still grade OKRs the old way; tiers are a second view.
Explicit weight primitive
Metrics carry a declared weight that must sum to 100. Priorities are stated, not implied, the thing the team cares most about is the thing with the biggest number next to it.
Leading / lagging / health typing
lead or lag typing distinguishes the signal you can watch today (leading) from the number that lands next quarter (lagging). OKRs don't make that distinction; Primer encodes it.
Commitment workflow with snapshot locking
The resolution workflow (draft, aligned, leader accepted, superior accepted, committed) forces the target setting negotiation OKRs assume but never model. Once the cycle is committed and the snapshot is locked, targets freeze. No mid cycle goalpost moving, the single most common OKR failure mode.
Audit trail per adjustment
the audit log logs field, old value, new value, and reason on every change. Most OKR tools don't retain this; Primer keeps it for the life of the cycle.
Customization suggestions, code you may want to modify
You have the source. If your team is used to OKRs and you want Primer to feel native, here are changes customers commonly make. Each one is optional.
Add a grade derived field on metrics
Compute a 0.0 to 1.0 score alongside the tier so reports can show both. The logic is a linear interpolation between the content and optimized thresholds.
Label goal as 'Objective' in the UI
Add an OKR-mode toggle in your theme or locale file so strings like strategic goal and metric weighted render as 'Objective' and 'Key Result'. No schema changes, only copy.
Auto-generate KR-style summary strings
For each metric in the stack, render Move {metric_name} from {baseline} to {optimized_threshold} as an auto-computed Key Result label. Helpful when exporting to slides.
OKR export endpoint
Add a an OKR export handler that serializes the current cycle into the shape your legacy OKR tool consumed. Makes the concurrent-run phase cheap to operate.
Hide tiers in contributor views
If your team wants to stay in OKR vocabulary forever, leave tiers disabled in contributor components. The data still records them for leadership reporting, you just never display them to the people doing the work.
You bought a perpetual source license. Every part of Primer is yours to change. These are suggestions, not requirements.
Let your team discover what fits
Run the cycle. Score it twice. Ask which conversation was more useful. Whatever they tell you is the right answer, we are not the authority here.
Ready to try it side-by-side?
Spin up the demo, mirror your current quarter, and see what your OKR dashboard and Primer's tier view disagree about.