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OKRs are a simple- and useful-sounding idea, but in practice, there are all kinds of troubles people get bogged down in. Here are 10 things, rarely mentioned, that can help.
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I’ve used OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and other goal-setting techniques at several companies, and tried lots of variations with them to help them be useful. For such a simple-sounding idea, they endlessly cause confusion.
I’ve been helped enormously by investigating how OKRs were really used by the companies that introduced them in the first place, and by reading case studies and talking to people at many places they’ve been used since. All this has helped me understand where we might be going wrong with them at various companies I’ve tried using them. There’s a range of “aha!” moments I’d like to share from this work.
This talk will cover the important aspects to consider when using OKRs – including how to decide if they’re the right tool for your situation at all. It will include lots of examples both from my own varied experience, and from the reading / talking I’ve done to learn from others.
I will attempt to cover 10 different things you haven’t heard before – but if it manages only 7, that’ll still be a great outcome. Yes, that was an OKR joke.
Key takeaways
- A collection of key details and decisions to work through when applying OKRs, to help get the most out of them
- An idea of pitfalls and antipatterns and how to avoid these
- Confidence to start using OKRs more effectively when they get back to work.
