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Chrisman Brown edited this page Jan 15, 2020 · 11 revisions

Objective and Key Results

History

  1. 1900s: industry dominated by the Taylor-Ford model of carrot-and-stick factory floor motivation and management
  2. 1954: Peter Drucker's The Practice of Management popularizes Managing By Objectives (MBO)
  3. 1970s: Andy Grove invented OKR at Intel in the early 70s

some random rules

  • less is more: 3 - 5 KRs should be enough; Too many can dilute focus and obscure progress
  • set goals from the bottom up
  • no dictating
  • stay flexible
  • dare to fail
  • a tool; not a weapon
  • be patient; be resolute

Part I: Superpowers

FATS:

  1. Focus and Commit to Priorities Choose the right goals.

    • "values cannot be transmitted by memo, structured goal setting won’t take root by fiat"

    • Communicate with clarity: transparency, collaboration, visibility

      "When you are tired of saying it, people are starting to hear it"

    • What How When

      • Needs to be short enough to be useful. Can be monthly, six weeks, or quarterly

    • Pairing Key Results

      • the dangers of one-dimensional goals:
        • Ford Pinto had very clear goals, and was a death trap and a colossal failure
        • Wells Fargo sales goals
      • so KRs should come in twos: a quality goal for each quantity

    • The Perfect and the Good: "Don't allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good"

    • Less is more: discern and say no to things

  2. Align and Connect for Teamwork

    • Adverse effects waterfall planning
      1. Loss of agility
      2. Loss of flexibility
      3. Marginalized contributors
      4. One-dimensional linkages

  3. Track for Accountability

    we’re left with zombie OKRs, on-paper whats and hows devoid of life or meaning

    • some specialized software exists (of course it does)
    • CUSS options, at any point in the cycle
      • Continue (green)
      • Update (yellow)
      • Start: begin a new OKR
      • Stop (red) What did I learn, how can I apply it?
    • Wrap ups (retrospective and forward looking):

      • objective scoring

        • 0.7 to 1.0 = green. (We delivered.)
        • 0.4 to 0.6 = yellow. (We made progress, but fell short of completion.)
        • 0.0 to 0.3 = red. (We failed to make real progress.)

      • subjective self-assessment

        • progress and score are not necessarily the same

      • reflection

        We do not learn from experience . . . we learn from reflecting on experience. - John Dewey

  4. Stretch for Amazing

    • Two buckets of goals (Google):
      • Committed: must be hit 100% of the time
      • Aspirational: success rate hovers around 40%
    • 10% vs 10x (1000%)
    • Big Rocks - Stephen Covey

Part II: Impacts of OKR

  1. CFR: Continuous performance management (vs Annual Performance Review**. Goals and performance management are decoupled from compensation

    1. Conversation

      1. Goal setting and reflection
      2. Ongoing process update
      3. Two-way coaching
      4. Career growth
      5. Lightweight performance reviews

    2. Feedback

      Feedback is an opinion, grounded in observations and experiences, which allows us to know what impression we make on others. - Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In

    3. Recognition: peer recognition, two-way, ad-hoc, multi-channel

  2. Importance of Culture
    • Project Aristotle questions: standout performance correlates to affirmative answers to these questions:
      1. Structure and clarity: Are goals, roles, and execution plans on our team clear?
      2. Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed?
      3. Meaning of work: Are we working on something that is personally important for each of us?
      4. Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high-quality work on time?
      5. Impact of work: Do we fundamentally believe that the work we’re doing matters?
    • Progress Principle
      1. Catalysts (OKRs): actions that support work
      2. Nourishers (CFRs): acts of interpersonal support

Glossary

amb
"as measured by"
CFR
Conversation, Feedback, Recognition
FATS
Focus Align Track Stretch: the four "superpowers" of the OKR
GGW
Goals Gone Wild: the idea that one-dimensional goals can be harmful
KPI
Key Performance Indicator
MBO
Managing By Objective: Peter Drucker's management method, and precursor to the OKR
OKR
Objective and Key Result: that's why we're here.

Resources

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