2. Introduction
OKR is an abbreviation for Objective & Key Result
• Objectives "Where do I want to go?”
• Key Results "How do I get there?”
Google often uses “Objectives and Key Results” (OKRs) to try to set
ambitious goals and track progress.
3.
4. History
• 1954 Peter Drucker invented MBO or Management by Objectives
• 1968 Andy Grove co-founded Intel and while CEO at Intel he
developed MBO into the model of OKR
• 1974 John Doerr joined Intel and learned OKR during his time there
• 2000, Doerr introduced OKRs to Google’s leadership
5. Understanding OKRs
• OKRs can help you focus on your company goals and reflect on
progress over a specified amount of time.
• Objectives are memorable qualitative descriptions of what you want
to achieve.
• Key Results are a set of metrics that measure your progress towards
the Objective.
• At the end of a work period, OKRs provide a reference to evaluate
how well executing these objectives that helps to plan better moving
forward.
6. OKRs at a glance
• Objectives are ambitious and may feel somewhat uncomfortable
• Key results are measurable and should be easy to grade with a number
• OKRs are public so that everyone in the organization can see what others are working on
• The “sweet spot” for an OKR grade is 60% – 70%; if someone consistently fully attains their objectives,
their OKRs aren’t ambitious enough and they need to think bigger
• Low grades should be viewed as data to help refine the next OKRs
• OKRs are not synonymous with employee evaluations
• OKRs are not a shared to-do list
7. Moonshots vs Roofshots
Moonshots Roofshots
Stretch goals Goals that are hard but achievable
Just beyond the threshold of what
seems possible
Success means achieving 100%
Success means achieving 60-70%
14. Common OKR mistakes
• Use OKR as a task list
• Setting too many OKRs
• Not aligning your OKRs
• Set it and forget it
15. Writing good OKRs tips
• For Objectives:
• Objectives should be simple, short and easy to memorize
• Objectives shouldn’t be boring
• 3-4 Objectives max per level (e.g. per person)
• Avoid expressions that don’t push for new achievements
• For Key results
• Key results express measurable milestones
• Set few of them, between 2 - 5 per objective
• Key results should describe outcomes, not activities.
16. Benefits of Setting OKRs
Importance of having Objectives
• Vision of where you want to get
• Prioritization of how to get there
• Know what’s expected of you
• Guide people towards the right path
• Daily focus on most important goals
17. FAQs
• What’s the difference between OKRs and KPI’s?
• How do I create OKRs for something that’s not measurable?
• What’s the difference between OKR and MBO?
John Doerr, one of Google’s early investors and a current Board of Directors member.
Doerr explained that when he joined Intel, the company was transitioning from a memory company to a microprocessor company, and Grove and the management team needed a way to help employees focus on a set of priorities in order to make a successful transition. OKRs helped them communicate those priorities, maintain alignment, and make that switch.
OKRs are meant to set strategy and goals over a specified amount of time for an organization and teams. At the end of a work period, your OKRs provide a reference to evaluate how well you did in executing your objectives.
In practice, using OKRs is different from other goal-setting techniques because of the aim to set very ambitious goals. When used this way, OKRs can enable teams to focus on the big bets and accomplish more than the team thought was possible, even if they don’t fully attain the stated goal. OKRs can help teams and individuals get outside of their comfort zones, prioritize work, and learn from both success and failure.
Creating unachievable goals is tricky as it could be seen as setting a team up for failure.
However, more often than not, such goals can tend to attract the best people and create the most exciting work environments. Moreover, when aiming high, even failed goals tend to result in substantial advancements.
The key is clearly communicating the nature of stretch goals and what are the thresholds for success. Google likes to set OKRs such that success means achieving 70% of the objectives, while fully reaching them is considered extraordinary(phi thường) performance.
Such stretch goals are the building blocks for remarkable achievements in the long term, or “moonshots”.
John Doerr is one of the most successful venture capitalists of all time. He started his career at Intel and went on to invest in companies such as Google and Amazon. Doerr, who introduced Google to OKR, has a formula for setting goals:
“We set ourselves goals we know we can’t reach yet because we know that by stretching to meet them we can get further than we expected.”
https://felipecastro.com/en/okr/what-is-okr/
Avoid expressions that don’t push for new achievements, e.g., “keep hiring,” “maintain market position,” “continue doing X.”
But humans are not machines, they won’t work mindlessly. They need to know what they are doing and why they are doing it. Not to mention, how it affects everyone else and the company.
1. OKRs and KPI’s are similar but there are small but important differences. OKRs provide the missing link between ambition and reality.
2. Almost anything can be measured. If you’re struggling to find Key Results for an Objective, ask yourself “How will I know when my Objective has been achieved?”.
3. OKR and MBO are both goal setting frameworks. OKR is an extension of MBO with a focus on measuring the outcomes of the Objectives using Key Results. This makes OKR more specific than MBO.
