AltexSoft: Achieving Strategic Alignment

“Oboard has been an essential part of our OKR journey at AltexSoft. Dedicated OKR features like the Strategy Map provide excellent visibility to stakeholders. Its seamless integration within the Atlassian ecosystem allows us to sync Oboard user groups with Jira, which simplifies management and saves a lot of time. Oboard has helped us embed OKRs into our existing workflows, making the transition smoother and more effective.”

Company Overview

Since 2007, AltexSoft has been fueling growth for global enterprises with its innovative and powerful solutions. Their experts create impactful software products and spearhead digital transformation. AltexSoft is an early AI innovator and has been actively using it to develop new tools and solutions for its customers. This, in turn, has earned them recognition in the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America for 8 years in a row.

Backstory and Challenges

AltexSoft, a technology and solution consulting firm with 18 years in the market, found itself at a point where its existing operational methods were hindering its desired growth trajectory. The company recognized a critical need to shift from attempts to optimize everything towards a more focused approach on key priorities. 

The biggest challenge was the connection between the strategy and execution. Previously, AltexSoft had 3-day events devoted to building the company strategy for the upcoming year with no phones or other distractions. They involved all the top management, middle management representatives, and external facilitators. The output of each session often consisted of 50-60 disconnected tasks divided among participants, and many of those tasks became irrelevant before completion. This led to teams usually working in silos, leading to a lack of alignment across the organization. 

An example of the strategic priorities produced using Altexsoft’s previous framework

Once the problems became apparent, AltexSoft recognized the necessity for a better goal-setting framework that could provide clear priorities, enhance flexibility, and ensure everyone understood the relevance and business impact of their initiatives. Their primary goals were to:

• Achieve Focus & Clear Priorities. Concentrate on a limited number of the most important goals for the next 3-6 months.
• Enhance Flexibility. Adapt to changing needs and priorities more effectively.
• Improve Alignment. Ensure all teams were working towards common company objectives, breaking down silos.
• Foster Understanding. Provide visibility into how individual tasks impact overall business goals and other departments.
• Define Responsibilities. Establish a clear chain of command and accountability.
• Track Progress Effectively. Move beyond simple “done or not done” tracking to meaningful progress measurement.

The Objectives and Key Results framework perfectly fits AltexSoft’s requirements and was built specifically for such cases. And after internal discussions, AltexSoft decided to go with it.

OKRs and Oboard

AltexSoft embarked on its OKR journey with a structured implementation strategy, explicitly designed to maximize its impact and minimize the time spent on busywork:

• Company-Level Focus: Begin by establishing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) solely at the company level.
• Limited Objectives: Cap the number of annual Objectives at six to maintain focus.
• Key Results & Initiatives: Ensure each Objective is supported by 3-5 measurable Key Results and clearly outlined Key Initiatives.
• Top Management Empowerment: Assign a member of top management as the champion for each top-level Objective.
• Monthly Progress Review: Conduct monthly reviews of strategic and tactical progress across the entire company.
• Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs): Assign a DRI for each Objective and Key Result to ensure clear ownership.

In addition, the team has come up with a yearly OKR cadence, beginning with a strategic session and OKR definition in January, followed by monthly OKR check-ins, a calibration session in July, and a cycle closing session in December.

To manage and track their OKRs effectively, AltexSoft chose OKR Board for Jira. The decision was driven by the desire to avoid implementing entirely new, standalone tools, and Oboard offered an OKR application directly within their existing Atlassian ecosystem. This allowed them to link Jira issues directly to OKRs — significantly simplifying alignment and providing a direct bridge between strategy and execution.

AltexSoft uses Oboard to track outcomes at the company level, providing clear visibility of OKR owners, status, and progress.

Monthly OKR check-ins were introduced, where numbers were reviewed from a business perspective, the completion status of tasks assigned to OKRs was checked, and their impact on objectives was analyzed.

However, there were some unforeseen challenges too. Due to extremely strict and demanding KPIs at AltexSoft, OKRs were initially seen as yet another productivity metric. This led to some misunderstanding of their value, with people either fearing them or outright refusing to engage with them. To solve this, AltexSoft reworked its internal communications about OKRs and started asking for OKR-specific results at the meetings. The process is still ongoing a year and a half in, and there’s still room to grow, but there is substantial progress.

Results and Impact

The adoption of OKRs, supported by Oboard, brought significant positive changes to AltexSoft. During their first OKR cycle in Q3 2023:

• They had 4 Company-level Objectives and ~130 Key Results across all levels.
• They moved ~51 Key Results to Q4 or Q1 2024, as they were not 100% completed.
• The completion rate for each high-level objective was:
  • Strategic Direction 1 – 58%
  • Strategic Direction 2 – 43%
  • Strategic Direction 3 – 59%
  • Strategic Direction 4 – 67%
• The average completion rate per assignee was 55%.

And this is how they summarized their key learning points from their first OKR cycle:

• Only take on KRs or Objectives that can be appropriately measured.
• Clear KR descriptions and regular updates are essential.
• More realistic estimation of efforts is needed, accounting for contingency risks and operational load.
• Better alignment between operational work and strategy is crucial.
• New KRs must be agreed upon and approved by the responsible person.
• OKRs Check-Ins are necessary and can lead to changing OKRs during the cycle.

AltexSoft OKR Structure in Oboard

The first OKRs cycle wasn’t perfect, but it never is. In fact, they made many mistakes — and still came out far ahead of their previous method.

Next Steps and Advice

AltexSoft plans to deepen the involvement of middle management in the OKR process and optimize the OKR update procedures.

Their advice to other companies considering OKRs is:

• Don’t wait too long. OKRs bring great value to teams.
• Plan for education. Don’t expect everyone to be immediately enthusiastic about a new idea; invest time and resources in training.

Reflecting on the implementation, Ihor Pavlenko, the OKR Champion, noted that to accelerate implementation, you need more than just the CEO’s approval. It should become a habit of each C-level executive to ask for OKR updates during regular meetings to drive engagement.

Conclusion

AltexSoft’s journey with OKRs, enabled by Oboard, is a testament to how a committed organization can transform its operational rhythm. They moved from scattered efforts and strategic drift to a state of clear focus, company-wide alignment, and measurable progress. This wasn’t just about adopting a new framework; it was about ingraining a new way of thinking and working, where every team member understands their contribution to the larger vision. 

Over the past 18 months, these efforts have produced a more agile, strategically driven AltexSoft, well-equipped for sustained growth and continued innovation. By pushing through the initial challenges, with the right approach and proper tools, the company rose above itself, becoming more efficient, aligned, and transparent in its efforts.

Ready to bring similar clarity, alignment, and focus to your organization?

• Discover Oboard for Jira. See how you can seamlessly integrate OKRs into your existing Atlassian workflow and connect strategy to execution. 
• Book a Personalized Demo. Let us show you how Oboard can be tailored to your team’s specific needs and help you achieve your strategic goals.