An introductory presentation about OKRs and how we introduced them at Cytech

1. How Google and Intel set ambitious goals and achieve them
What are OKRs? How we use them?
OKR FRAMEWORK

2. 2
08
09
07
The benefits
Why to use OKRs
History
The History of OKRs
introduction
What OKRs are

3. 3
08
09
07
questions
Still sceptical?
common pitfalls
Where to pay attention and how to
avoid mistakes
How do they work
How OKRs work

4. What we doAt Cytech

5. What we doWe build software products for telecoms focusing on quality and efficiency
5
mCore
Modular software platform for
Mobile Marketing, Messaging
and Payments
Dashboards
Business Intelligence and
Analytics platform for
Telecoms
ProSMS
Web SMS Software for SMEs in
Greece and Romania

6. What we achievedWe managed to expand to 15 counties with almost the same team size
6
Thailand
Mobile Marketing
Runs successful campaigns
for big retailers
Mobile Payments
Offers an alternative and
modern way to pay via mobile
Norway
SMS Wholesale
Transports huge
volumes of SMS
Brazil
Kenya
S.Arabia
Ghana
Greece
VAS and PSMS
Runs VAS for social media
and int'l football clubs

7. 7
2014
2015
2010
CI/CD
• Automated testing, integration
and delivery
• Release every two weeks
• Installations update in 1 day
Cloud
• High Availability, Fail over, no
hardware maintenance
• Release every month
• Installations update takes 3-4
days.
SaaS
• Common Infrastructure with no
real automation
• Release every two months
• Installations update takes a week

8. How we did itWhat really helped us expand to more and bigger customers all over the world maintaining our flexibility
8
2014
2015
2010
K8s
CI/CD
Cloud
SaaS
2017

9. What are OKRS - Objectives and key results
A goal system and a simple tool to create alignment and engagement around measurable goals

10. ObjectivesMemorable qualitative descriptions of what you
want to achieve. Objectives should be short,
inspirational and engaging. An Objective should
motivate and challenge the team
Where do I want to go?
10
88%
Key results
A set of metrics that measure
your progress towards the
Objective. For each Objective,
you should have a set of 2 to 5
Key Results. More than that and
no one will remember them
How will I know if I’m getting
there?

11. 11
 create alignment
Public and nested goals
 evaluate the goals
Frequently, usually quarterly
 track Key results
Measurable and easy to grade
 set ambitious goals
Engage talented people

12. 1970S 2018
and beyond
Companies like Spotify, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and Airbnb but also not
digital companies like Walmart,
Target, The Guardian use OKRs
Intel
John Doerr learned OKRs from
Andy Grove Intel’s CEO while
transforming Intel from a memory
to a microprocessor company
2000S
google
Doerr introduces OKRs to Google’s
management team and from that
time on Google extensively use
OKRs for quarterly and annual goals
12

13. OKRS
benefitsWhat businesses have
to gain from OKRs
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speed
Lightweight process
that reduces resources
spent on setting goals

Agility
Short cycles enables
faster adjustments

transparency
Teams understand
what the organisation’s
goals are and how they
can contribute

alignment
Teams move towards
the same direction


14. OKRS
benefitsWhat businesses have
to gain from OKRs
14

bold goals
Decoupling goals from compensation
enable teams to set bolder goals

focus
Manageable few goals create
focus

autonomy
Teams choose how to achieve
their OKRs

engagement
Employees influence teams and
company’s goals

15. A Typical
cycleWhat are the steps for a
common OKR cycle
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

Dependencies
Teams map interdependencies
and ensure alignment with
other teams and initiatives

Set Tactical OKRs
Teams develop their Tactical
OKRs using a bi-directional
approach
 Weekly Check-ins
Teams have weekly check-ins
to track results and actions
Set Strategic OKRs
At the beginning of the year, the
company defines a set of high-
level strategic OKRs – preferably
with input from the team
Review
Review the OKRs halfway down the
quarter during a mid-term OKR review.


Retrospective
Have a quick
retrospective/
lessons learned
and start over

16. 
Strategic Goals
First commit to
company’s goals. Be
sure they are bold
enough

Alignment
Teams set their own
OKRs according to
company’s ones

Update
Objectives
according to the
evaluation. Make
them bolder or
quit them

Evaluate & Grade
Measure KRs frequently
and evaluate team goals
quarterly and company’s
yearly
The processWhere to start
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
Weekly Checkins
Monitor progress and
improve results
frequently

18. 
Use expressions
that convey endpoints and
states, e.g., “climb the
mountain,” “eat 5 pies,” “ship
feature Y.”

Three to Five
objectives - more can
lead to over-extended
teams and a diffusion
of effort

Use unambiguous terms
It should be obvious to an
observer whether or not an
objective has been achieved

Avoid expressions
that don’t push for new
achievements, e.g.,
“keep hiring,” “maintain
market position,”
objectivesTips for setting
objectives
18

19. 
Three KRs
Determine around
three key results
per objective

Evidence
Measurable milestones should
include evidence of
completion and this evidence
should be available, credible,
and easily discoverable.

Measurable
Key results express measurable
milestones which, if achieved, will
directly advance the objective.

Outcome
Key results
should describe
outcomes, not
activities
key resultsTips for developing key
results
19

20. stretch 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.”
Google
roofshots
Goals that are hard
but achievable

uncomfortable
Take you out of your
comfort zone

balanced
Should be hard but
not as hard as to
demotivate you

go further
Make you go after
targets that you
think you can’t reach

20

21. team OKRS
How to develop meaningful team OKRs
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connection
Do the team priorities connect
to any of the organizational
key results
not a task list
It’s not what the team wants
done, rather than what the
team wants to achieve
dependency
Are there things missing that
others think this team should
be working on

22. Frequent check-insEither weekly or monthly according to the type of OKRs
22
forget scoring or not?
Use Value-based Key Results and just
measure them. Simpler for the teams
and less time spent setting OKRs
impediments &
initiatives
What is slowing the team? What are
we going to do to improve results?
Progress & confidence
What changed since the last Check-
in? How confident are we that we
reach each KR?

23. grade OKRS
How to quickly get a
grade for your OKRs
23
Publicly grade
OKRs are typically
shared and graded
annually and quarterly.
Team leaders explain
the grade and any
adjustments for the
upcoming quarter
60% - 70%
Scoring lower may
mean the organization
is not achieving
enough of what it
could be. Scoring
higher may mean the
aspirational goals are
not being set high
enough.
performance
evaluation
Contributions and
impact to the larger
organizational OKRs

24. Common
mistakesThe most common
mistakes in OKR
implementations
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top-down
Trust your team and
help them understand
how they can
contribute

Too many
Representation of
your top priorities.
Less is more here.

copy Google
Understand the
principles and
adapt

Set & Forget
Not a new year’s
resolutions. Track at
a regular cadence

silos
Achieving
alignment will be
impossible

measurable
Every Key Result
has to be
measurable.

25. examplesOKRs in real life -
A perfume franchise
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COMPANY
OBJECTIVES
• Increase the number
of stores by 20%
• Increase profit by
10%
Increase
profit by 10%
• Implement a supplier
registration reverse
auction system and
save 10% on
purchases
• Outsource the
distribution fleet to
stores and reduce
costs by 25%
• Launch seasonal
campaigns on
Valentine’s Day,
mothers and fathers
days and double the
revenue from the
past year.
Increase the
number of
stores by
20%
• Select 40 new
franchise candidates
by March
• Train 30 of them
before June
• Sign contracts with
25 of them before
September
• Open 20 stores
before December

26. 26
Train 30 of
them by June
• Develop new
materials and PPTs
by April
• Give an intensive 1-
month course before
May
• Select at least 30 of
those who
completed the
course by June
To open 20
stores by
December
• Assist the 25
franchisees to choose
business points by
September
• Buy materials and
start renovations by
October
• Open at least 20 new
stores by December
(before Christmas!)
Select 40 new
franchise
candidates by
March
• Receive 500 resumes
before January
• Select 60 interview
candidates by
February
• Choose 40 of the
interviewees before
March
HR training
Sign
contracts
with 25 of
them before
September
• Collect documents
and registration
information by July
• Send draft contracts
by August
• Have at least 25
contracts signed by
September
traininglegal ops

27. Castro’s OKR Guide
http://felipecastro.com
google ventures video
https://youtu.be/mJB83EZtAjc
re:work OKR guide
https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/
set-goals-with-okrs
John Doerr’s
new book
https://www.amazon.com/
dp/0525536221/
atlassian’s playbook
https://www.atlassian.com/team-playbook/plays/okrs
Betterworks blog
https://blog.betterworks.com/keys-okr-
success-qa-john-doerr/
ResourcesUseful material for further research
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28. Vagelis Antoniadis
Contact me on
28
www.cytechmobile.com
twitter.com/vanton_
www.linkedin.com/in/vanton
vanton@cytech.gr
www.cytechmobile.com
Science and Technology Park of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
Phone: +30.2810.314127 - Email: info@cytechmobile.com