OKRs - Objectives and Key Results

What

• OKRs is a goal system used by many companies, but popularized by Google. It is a simple tool to create alignment and engagement around measurable goals.
• Looks like this: I will (Objective) as measured by (this set of Key Results)
• Objectives: WHAT is to be achieved. They are significant, concrete, action oriented and (ideally) inspirational. When properly designed protect against fuzzy thinking.
• Key Results: benchmark and monitor how we get to the objective. Specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic. Measurable and verifiable.

Why

• “If you don’t know where you are going, you might not get there.” - Yogi Berra
• OKR’s process helps think and articulate the goals
• OKR’s process helps track and measure progress towards the goals

How

• Objectives may or may not be measurable but must be strategic.
• KRs (Key results) are measurable. “Its not a key result unless it has a number”
• Makes sense to have strategic yearly (and/or 2-5y) OKR’s, and then also more tactical (by nature) quarterly OKR’s. The quarterly ones are the initiatives/investment/hypothesis to achieve the longer term OKR’s.
• Are public, for transparency on commitment. Making them transparent to others means others understand your goals, and can offer mutual benefit partnerships.
• In an organization top level goals should align with individual OKRs. At an individual level they can be checked for alignment to top level. Alignment does not mean a hard cascading style.
• At work, Individual contributors should take initiative to create up to 60% of their own goals on what they think they should do and how to use their abilities in the best way. i.e. not 100% of the OKR’s should be dictated by manager. There will be a negotiation phase on each quarter to set them
• Max of 5 objectives, with up to 3 KR’s per quarter. That translates into 15 total and an average of 1.25 KR’s per week (on average)
• Note that the evaluation is in fact defined at the phase of setting the OKR’s, in the sense that at end of quarter it takes only a few minutes to score up the points and check what was done versus not.
• When setting your OKRs:
  • Your action plan and initiatives are a collection of things that you are placing a bet that will deliver impact towards the end goal.
  • A Key Result is not just the thing that you do (an activity). It is instead the successful outcome of what you did (the impact).
  • Are your KR’s measuring effort or results? Are your KRs focused on your objective or on the means to get there? There are 2 types of KR’s: Activity based (i did A) VERSUS Value based ( i improved from x to y), prefer the latter.
  • Delivering an initiative is great, it accumulates experience and hopefully side-effects over time, but is not enough in itself, in reality it might or it might not deliver direct impact towards the end goal.
  • Instead of tracking the delivery of a project, we should measure the indicators that motivated it in the first place. Example, if we successfully migrate the platform we will reduce infrastructure costs from X to Y.
  • All in all use common sense
• Regular check-ins:
  • Do not “Set it and Forget it”, instead refresh regularly
  • What changed since last check-in?
  • We confident we will achieve the KR’s at this rhythm?
  • What is slowing down progress?
  • What will we do to fix it?
  • Use the model, what should we: Start doing / Stop doing / Continue doing ?
• Do a retrospect of what worked and what didn’t, why i got that score, the most important is the point of view of learning on the goals and on the process:
  • Was planing good?
  • Less than 3/4 achieved, what happened?
  • What is my grade? (average the scores, avoid weighting). KR’s are either achieved or not, there is no grey area.
  • What did i learn?
  • OKRs that haven’t been achieved in the previous cycle are re-evaluated so they can be included in the next quarter or discarded if they are no longer necessary.
• OKRs achievement are 1 input / variable into the rewards the discussion, not the totality of it.

When

• Start of quarters, do retrospect, define new goals, in: Jan, April, July, October.
• Also, do mid quarter reviews (as a regular check-in).
• And to keep rhythm do weekly check-ins.

FAQ

What if my goals depend on other people or things out of my control?

Detach, if 1 individual is the blocker, find alternatives to get to the goal through another individual. The KR cannot be tied to individuals but to an initiative that needs completed.

Reference

• Startup Lab workshop: How Google sets goals, Rick Klau, https://youtu.be/mJB83EZtAjc
• OKR’s: https://felipecastro.com/en/okr/success-criteria-types-key-results/
• Measure what matters, John Doerr: https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/54960827-measure-what-matters