OKR and Scrum are two complementary tools operating at different levels. Well articulated, they create a bridge between company vision and teams' daily work.
OKR (Objectives & Key Results) is a goal-setting framework popularized by Intel then Google. An Objective is qualitative and inspiring — 'Become the UX reference in our sector.' Key Results are quantitative and measurable — 'Reach an NPS of 65' or 'Reduce registration form abandonment to 15%.' The OKR framework typically operates quarterly, sometimes annually.
Scrum operates at the sprint level, typically two weeks. The articulation between the two happens through the Sprint Goal: each sprint must contribute to at least one Key Result. The Product Owner, responsible for the backlog, prioritizes stories based on their impact on current OKRs. This hierarchy avoids the classic trap of the infinite backlog where everything is 'high priority' and nothing really advances.
The mistake to avoid: transforming Key Results into a feature backlog. OKRs describe the desired outcome, not the solution. 'Reduce loading time to 2 seconds' is an excellent Key Result — 'Implement a CDN' is a solution (perhaps not the right one). This distinction is fundamental to preserving team autonomy in choosing the means.