Measure What Matters: OKRs: The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth

defined OKRs: “A management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization.”

Each morning, I’d say to myself, “These are my three buckets, and what am I doing today to move the company forward?” That’s a great question for any leader, with or without a learning issue.

Andy Grove’s quantum leap was to apply manufacturing production principles to the “soft professions,” the administrative, professional, and managerial ranks.

An OBJECTIVE, I explained, 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. Effecti

In most cases, the ideal number of quarterly OKRs will range between three and five.

Leaders must get across the why as well as the what. Their people need more than milestones for motivation. They are thirsting for meaning, to understand how their goals relate to the mission. And the process can’t stop with unveiling top-line OKRs at a quarterly all-hands meeting. As LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner likes to say, “When you are tired of sa

Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.

Nadella has pointed out: In a world where computing power is nearly limitless, “the true scarce commodity is increasingly human attention.”

exactly how do you build engagement? A two-year Deloitte study found that no single factor has more impact than “clearly defined goals that are written down and shared freely …. Goals create alignment, clarity, and job satisfaction.”