Closing a Cycle

How you end a cycle matters as much as how you start one. A proper close creates learning, celebrates wins, and sets up the next cycle for success. This guide covers the end-of-cycle review process.

When to Close

Start the closing process during the last week of the cycle, not after it ends. This gives you time to:

  • Collect final check-ins and data
  • Run retrospectives while context is fresh
  • Make decisions about incomplete work
  • Overlap with planning for the next cycle

Step 1: Final Check-ins

Before anything else, ensure all key results have final updates:

  • Send a reminder to all OKR owners to submit final check-ins
  • Update metrics with end-of-cycle data
  • Note any context needed (external factors, scope changes, etc.)
Set a hard deadline for final check-ins — 2-3 days before your retrospective meeting.

Step 2: Score and Assess

Review each objective and key result:

Scoring Key Results

For each key result, assess the final outcome:

  • 0.0-0.3 — Little to no progress
  • 0.4-0.6 — Meaningful progress but fell short
  • 0.7-1.0 — Strong achievement (0.7 is often considered success for stretch goals)

Overall Objective Assessment

Beyond the numbers, consider:

  • Did we achieve the spirit of the objective, not just the letter?
  • Were the key results the right measures of success?
  • What did we learn about this area of the business?

Step 3: The Retrospective

Run a retrospective meeting with each team. This is different from weekly reviews — it's a deeper reflection on the entire cycle.

Retrospective Agenda (60-90 min)

  1. Review results (15 min) — Walk through each objective and its final score.
  2. What went well (15 min) — What worked? What should we keep doing?
  3. What didn't work (15 min) — Where did we fall short? What got in the way?
  4. Learnings (15 min) — What did we learn about our OKRs, our process, our assumptions?
  5. Carry-forward decisions (15 min) — What unfinished work continues? What do we stop?
Document the retrospective outcomes. These insights inform next cycle's planning.

Step 4: Handle Incomplete Work

Not everything gets finished. For each incomplete objective or key result, decide:

  • Carry forward — Still important? Create a new objective in the next cycle with adjusted targets.
  • Abandon — No longer relevant? Mark as abandoned and document why.
  • Complete as-is — Did we achieve enough? Mark complete even if not 100%.
Resist the urge to carry everything forward. Each cycle should be a fresh prioritization, not an accumulating backlog.

Step 5: Update Statuses in Runsheet

Finalize all OKRs in the system:

  1. Set final status on each objective (Completed or Abandoned)
  2. Ensure all key results have final values
  3. Add any notes or context for future reference

Step 6: Celebrate and Communicate

Don't skip this step. Recognition matters:

  • Celebrate wins — Acknowledge objectives that were achieved and people who drove them.
  • Share learnings — What did the company learn this cycle? Share broadly.
  • Thank contributors — OKRs are team efforts. Recognize the team.
Consider a company-wide summary: key wins, key learnings, and a preview of next cycle's focus.

Common Mistakes

  • Skipping the retrospective — Without reflection, you repeat the same mistakes.
  • Blame and shame — Missed OKRs are learning opportunities, not failures to punish.
  • No final check-ins — Incomplete data makes retrospectives useless.
  • Rushing to the next cycle — Take time to properly close before opening new OKRs.
  • Carrying forward everything — If it wasn't important enough to finish, is it important enough to continue?

Closing Checklist

  • All key results have final check-ins
  • All objectives scored and assessed
  • Team retrospective completed
  • Carry-forward decisions made
  • Statuses updated in Runsheet
  • Wins celebrated and learnings shared
  • Next cycle planning underway

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