OKR is a framework for defining and tracking objectives and their outcomes for companies, teams and individuals. OKRs were created by Andy Grove who has had a massive impact on the silicon valley culture and the entire world.
The modern reference book for understanding OKRs is Measure What Matters by Doerr who acually worked with Grove!
Here are some of the highlights from the book and my thoughts on OKRs.
Book Highlights
Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.
Doerr (and many others)
An OBJECTIVE, is simply WHAT is to be achieved, no more and no less. By definition, objectives are significant, concrete, action oriented, and (ideally) inspirational. When properly designed and deployed, they’re a vaccine against fuzzy thinking—and fuzzy execution.
KEY RESULTS benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. Effective KRs are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic. Most of all, they are measurable and verifiable.
Four OKR “superpowers”
- Focus and Commit to Priorities - Work on what is important. Winning requires focus on common goals.
- Align and Connect for Teamwork - For open and transparent companies, OKRs help align various teams to work towards a shared goal.
- Track for Accountability - Track progress of the OKR based on how it is measured. Corrective action should be taken if necessary.
- Stretch for Amazing - OKRs should have a mix of aggressive and aspirational goals.
Intel OKRs to defeat Motorolla.
OBJECTIVE: Establish the 8086 as the highest performance 16-bit microprocessor family
KEY RESULTS (Q2 1980)
- Develop and publish five benchmarks showing superior 8086 family performance (Applications).
- Repackage the entire 8086 family of products (Marketing).
- Get the 8MHz part into production (Engineering, Manufacturing).
- Sample the arithmetic coprocessor no later than June 15 (Engineering).
That cascaded to an Engg Department OKR like
OBJECTIVE: Deliver 500 8MHz 8086 parts to CGW by May 30.
KEY RESULTS (Q2 1980)
- Develop final art to photo plot by April 5.
- Deliver Rev 2.3 masks to fab on April 9.
- Test tapes completed by May 15.
- Fab red tag start no later than May 1.
The OKR examples above are hierarchical. But they can be bottom-up as well.
OKRs are adaptable by nature. They’re meant to be guardrails, not chains or blinders. Track and audit OKRs during the cycle;
- Continue
- Update an existing one
- Start a new one
- Stop
Scoring can be used
- 0.0 -> 0.3 - no real progress
- 0.4 -> 0.6 - made progress but fell short
- 0.7 -> 1.0 - we delivered
OKRs are inherently action oriented.. but reflect on experience of closing out an OKR
Personal Notes
Andy Grove designed OKRs as a successor to the management theory by Taylor-Ford which was based on factory output. For the modern knowledge driven workplace; a rigid top down authoritarian process does not work. OKRs make sense to me since they are based on mastery autonomy and purpose
OKRs are simple - Create a common objective and track progress. I’m afraid that we tend to overthink the whole thing and make it too complex. That is similar to what the “Scrum overlords” did to the Agile manifesto!