Measure What Matters
John Dooer
“Objective Key Results (Simple): The objective is the direction, the key result has to be measurable.
Likes
Objective Key Result’s (aka OKR) process is concise and easy to understand as an individual, similar to Agile for teams
Instruction on how to use OKR’s feels practical on a personal level, and the book includes tips and tricks on how to implement things
A good book for measuring things, which has applications beyond this book and into things like JTBD / ODI, Agile
Dislikes
Seems complicated on an organizational level, but I’ve seen digital tools that have implemented OKR’s into teams
Governance feels like a pain in OKR’s, they seem hard to remember or implement
Some concepts are a little idealistic, like being able to overcome peoples attention spans with a goal or objective
A little heavy on the story-telling versus the more practical stuff
Synopsis
I’ve seen and participated on teams that have used OKR’s and decided to read into it. By making goals, progress, measurable, it allows teams to measure and calibrate goals. More importantly, it allows massive teams to align all teams with the high-level business goals that the business hopes to achieve- even if they feel like a stretch. For example, Marketing, Design, Product, and CSuite can all chip in to help a company - “Become the best design agency in the Midwest” with their own goals. It’s a neat process, where if done right it can be wildly successful. Based on personal experience, governance is a really hard thing to accomplish- and as I read from the book it can take years for OKR’s systems to be successfully deployed. If I learned one thing from this book it’s about the importance of setting goals and the effects it can have on both company and culture. The process reminds me a little bit of Agile development- where goals are set on a short/long-scale basis in support of team goals. Tasks are then prioritized based on what will help achieve “stories” (big goals), and performance is measured and calibrated from there. OKR’s (Objective Key Results) as the name suggest, seem to be about setting reasonable, measurable, objectives. For example, “increasing traffic to a website by 50% over the next quarter.” This is a good book to pick up for anyone who wants to learn a method for reaching a goal or objective.
Learnings
Objectives are directions we want to go, the things we want to do, our aspirations, for example, I want to write better articles and book reviews. We can measure the time taken from now til our objective. To do that, we can set tangible results and stepping stones that lead from here to there. The results should always come back to support objectives. Otherwise, you will risk going off track from the objective you created the results. Tracking and scoring OKR progress includes applying scores to OKR’s, self-assessment on OKR progress, and reflection on what worked/didn’t work- inviting room for growth.
For example, I will post to my Zotero about 5 times a day.
Watching over people with a microscope is just going to make them hate you! If I had someone watching me all day, measuring what I’m doing, I’d feel like a lab mouse! 🐁
Putting people in a Skinner Box environment can cause resentment and competition can create distraction. Which is where scoring can get a little tricky. A healthy environment for goal setting strikes a balance with a common goal set between a shared goal, freedom to choose how to get there, a common purpose, culture, and an environment that supports their growth. This environment should be strategic, collaborative, connected, similar to an agile environment.There are two types of objectives at Google: Committed Objectives (100% goal, set at the beginning of a quarter), and Aspirational Objectives (Lofty goals that fail 40% of the time e.g. 10x increase in something) that are meant to rally an organization. Companies should set stretch goals so that they reach for aspirations and measure their way there. Anything is better than it was yesterday :)
I found this quote piece interesting about the definition of an entrepreneur: “those who do more than anyone thinks possible with less than anyone thinks possible”
CFR’s can be paired with OKR’s to give employees space for feedback and goal setting. If we set goals for giving eachother feedback then it can improve our connectedness. When we provide feedback, it could be an opinion that is grounded in what we know, and what we have experienced.
We can break down objectives into the key results that will drive them. Hence, Objective Key Results. Objectives are lofty, key results are levers, they are the things that can be measured and optimized, and it’s good to look for areas in the system that they can be supported. OKR’s usually include one objective (e.g. be the best retail experience ever) and a number of key results (e.g. reduce the time it takes to check out, sell x number of products, get y amount of positive customer feedback)