Измеряйте самое важное. Как Google, Intel и другие компании добиваются роста с помощью OKR

by John Doerr, Джон Дорр

Венчурный инвестор Джон Дорр рассказывает о созданной им системе OKR (Objectives and Key Results), которая помогла многим гигантам — от Intel до Google — показать впечатляющий рост. Это эффективная и проверенная сила для совершенствования работы.

OKR — цели и ключевые результаты (Objectives and Key Results). Это совместный протокол целеполагания для компаний, команд и сотрудников. Конечно, OKR — не панацея. Они не заменят здравомыслия, сильного лидерства и креативной рабочей культуры. Однако, если эти фундаментальные принципы работают, OKR помогут покорить вершины.

Эта система помогла Google и Intel показать значимый рост. Сейчас среди приверженцев OKR — AOL, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Oracle, Slack, Spotify и Twitter, а также такие известные за пределами Кремниевой долины компании, как BMW, Disney, Exxon и Samsung.

OKR дают лидерам прекрасный обзор и четкое понимание всего, что происходит в организации. Они ускоряют координацию и помогают компании фокусировать усилия и делают ее более гибкой.
Из книги вы узнаете:

* об основных характеристиках системы OKR и о том, как она превращает хорошие идеи в блестящее исполнение и удовлетворенность работой;

* об истории возникновения OKR в Intel под руководством Энди Гроува;

* о четырех «суперсилах» OKR: сосредоточенности, согласованности, мониторинге и стремлении к выдающимся результатам;

* как применять OKR в новом корпоративном мире;

* как OKR влияют на рабочую обстановку и как они облегчают и ускоряют изменения корпоративной культуры;

* о примерах применения OKR в дюжине абсолютно разных организаций — от социальной кампании Боно в Африке ONE Campaign до YouTube.

Из предисловия Ларри Пейджа, сооснователя Google:

Я пишу предисловия редко. Но в данном случае решил сделать исключение, потому что много лет назад Джон принес в Google этот удивительный подарок. OKR повысили наш рост в десять раз, причем не единожды. Благодаря им наша безумная цель — «организовать всю имеющуюся в мире информацию» — стала достижимой. Они позволили мне и всей компании держать руку на пульсе и контролировать ситуацию в самые важные периоды. И мне бы хотелось, чтобы люди узнали об этом.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Management, Leadership, Productivity, Entrepreneurship, Audiobook

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 5, 2017

About the author

L. John Doerr (born June 29, 1951) is an American investor and venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins in Menlo Park, California. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in trying to fix America's economic downturn.

Reviews

[Keith Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid methodology that could be adequately summarized in two pages, padded to 300+ pages with self-aggrandizement and surface-level case studies.

[Romans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did I learn how to set OKRs? No.
Did I find out what's the difference between Os and KRs when you choose them? No.
Do I know how to align departments with non-trivial objectives? No.
Did I understand what to do when things go wrong? No.
Do I feel confident about doing OKRs now? No.
Am I inspired about OKRs more than I was when I started the book? No.
Did I at least heard about how to measure what matters? No.

Did I learn anything at all from this book?! Hm... I heard empty case studies where people, mostly Silicon Valley superstars, and sometimes just ex-Googlers share their fascination with OKRs. Then again, I mostly heard pitching of their latest or even old companies and achievements and how "they wouldn't have done it without OKRs". I guess what I've understood for myself is if so many people actually believe in it, I shouldn't give up on OKRs just because of this book.

This book should have the title "OKR Cargo Cult: How to Create One". I'm sure there's more to the framework, just don't try to see it in this book. It's an endless stream of selling the 3 golden letters, without an attempt of sharing anything below the surface.

Also, 4+ rating for this empty book? Is it really because John Doerr managed to get many cool people to contribute? Gah. 4 stars doesn't mean anything even in non-fiction now.

[Yevgeniy Brikman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should've been a long blog post. At its core, it contains valuable advice about the power of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) as a mechanism to help get everyone in a company moving in the same direction. Unfortunately, this nugget of wisdom is wrapped in loads of generic business book jargon, scattered through chapters that seem to be organized randomly, and padded out with lots of case studies, which while sometimes interesting, are not terribly useful, and often written in an unnatural style that sounds like an infomercial ("and all of this was only possible thanks to... OKRs!!!").

So, here, without all that extra padding, I've copied in my notes that contain most of the important takeaways from the book:

- OKRs = Objectives and Key Results. Objectives are the "what" you're trying to achieve (e.g., become the best X in the world) and the key results are the "how" you're going to achieve it (e.g., X million page views per month, Y revenue per year, etc).

- Why you should use OKRs: if you decide to meet up with a bunch of your friends in Central Europe, and some people end up in Germany, some in Italy, and some in France, whereas you really meant Switzerland, you won't be particularly happy. A company is like that: if the company's goals are not clearly defined, then everyone ends up working towards different goals, and all the vectors will cancel out to 0. OKRs are a way to make sure that your most important goals and the means of accomplishing those goals are clear, transparent, and visible to everyone, so everyone is aligned, and moving in the same direction.

- There are two types of OKRs: committed OKRs, which are critical business goals that you are intended to accomplish 100% (e.g., improving security), and aspirational OKRs, which are designed to stretch you, and therefore, you expect to fail at many of them (~70% success rate with high variance).

- You can have OKRs for the entire company, OKRs for each team, and personal OKRs. They should all be inter-connected (e.g., team OKRs must support those of the larger organization).

- For aspirational OKRs, a big, bold, audacious goal is valuable in getting the best out of people. Many studies have shown that people produce far more/better output when they aim for goals that are well beyond their current abilities—especially if those goals are written and shared publicly.

- All OKRs should be developed openly, written down, and shared publicly within the company. Everyone should commit to them publicly, review them publicly, and, ideally, you should see them every day as you work. Clear, written, public commitments to big goals are an incredibly powerful tool.

- The key results MUST be measurable and preferably time-bound. In fact, the typical phrasing for an OKR is " as measured by "; e.g., "we will become the premier photo hosting website in the world as measured by getting to 100 million users and 1 billion photo uploads by the end of the year." They should be clearly defined (e.g., the "100 million users" in the previous example is ambiguous—is that monthly active users? daily active users? registered users?), so there's no ambiguity when reviewing the results later of whether you accomplished them or not.

- The objectives should be defined in how the impact they have, not the thing you're building. E.g., "ship feature X" is not nearly as good of an objective as "ship feature X to increase sign ups by 25%" or even better, "increase sign ups by 25%."

- The key results must be defined in such a way that when they are complete, the objective is completed. If you mark all the key results as "done" but you don't feel like the objective is accomplished, you didn't pick the right key results.

- Try to balance the key results to avoid incentivizing the wrong behavior. For example, a key result like "make $X in revenue by date Y" could lead to negative behavior when someone is trying really hard to make their numbers (e.g., ripping customers off to boost revenue in the short term), so you can try to offset this by also having a key result like "customer NPS score of Y." Another example: a key result like "ship feature X by date Y" could lead to cutting a lot of corners as date Y approaches, so try to balance it by also having a key result like, "with fewer than X bugs per 1,000 lines of code."

- OKRs are a tool. They are a great way to get everyone aligned, but they are not the end-all, be-all of decision making. If an OKR clearly cannot be accomplished, or the outside world has changed and the OKR no longer makes sense, it's OK to change it or discard it. Don't be dogmatic about it.

- Less is more. You want no more than 3-5 OKRs per quarter and no more than 3-5 key results per OKR. Any more and it becomes hard to focus and decide what really matters.

- It can take a long time (1-2 years) for an organization to get good at using OKRs. It's a skill that you must develop.

- It's a good idea to regularly review how you did against your previous OKRs and to come up with updated ones. At Google, each employee scores themselves against their OKRs: 0 - 0.3 means you made no progress towards the OKR; 0.4 - 0.6 means you made some progress, but you're not done; and 0.7 - 1.0 means you made great progress or got the whole thing done. Or, analogously, you can mark each OKR as red, yellow, or green.

- OKRs should not be directly tied to compensation. Otherwise, employees will fear taking any risks and will sandbag all the key results, only promising what they know they can easily deliver as to ensure they get their bonuses. If you want people to try for big, crazy, game-changing ideas, you need to expect that failures will happen, and you have to provide an environment where failing is not punished.

That's pretty much it. The rest of the book mostly feels like fluff. Moreover, it fails to answer critical questions such as:

- How do you implement OKRs at a company that hasn't used them before?
- How often should you review and update OKRs?
- What's the process for creating company OKRs, team OKRs, and personal OKRs, and having them cascade all the way down?
- OKRs shouldn't be tied directly to compensation, but it seems impractical to ignore them completely too. How do you balance that?
- How do you deal with failure? The book explains that failure for aspirational OKRs is expected, but many people are not used to failing—especially publicly, as is the case with OKRs—so how do you help them get used to that?

One of the most useful parts of the book is an appendix that contains an excerpt from Google's OKR playbook. You can also find it online here: https://www.whatmatters.com/resources.... In fact, that website is arguably more useful than the book itself, so check it out!

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've worked on the Google campus for 11 years, and have seen first-hand the impact OKRs have had on the company. John Doerr is single-handedly responsible for bringing OKRs to Google. He saw before anyone else the transformative power Andy Grove's system from Intel could have at Google, and this book is a great window into those early days. John does a great job showing how that early presentation at Google set the stage for so much of the growth and success that came later.

Some of the best parts of the book are the mini case studies from a variety of companies. One of the biggest complaints I hear from founders about OKRs is that it works for Google because, well, Google is *Google*. By letting you hear from founders in their own words - from small startups to fast-growth startups to non-profits - John makes it easy for the reader to model how OKRs could work at their company. It's not just Google: Doerr shows how any ambitious, outcome-oriented organization can benefit from implementing OKRs.

Anyone who wants to understand what makes Silicon Valley tick will learn a lot from this book. So many of the giants from the last fifty years are captured in these pages – as relayed by John, their commitment and ambition shine through. John makes clear that they also shared an embrace of a simple framework for setting goals and communicating throughout their organization – which should be encouraging for any founder who wants to know how to build similarly effective organizations.

(Disclaimer: a brief anecdote involving me is included in the book. I didn't tell John I was writing this review ahead of time - I bought the book last night and wanted to share my thoughts.)

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Очень много вдохновляющих примеров, которые меня отвлекли от самой технологии. Книгу, безусловно, придётся перечитывать.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing that someone like John Doerr wrote such a shallow book.

*It's extremely vague. Never gotten into the details of OKR or the shortcomings of this goal setting system. The most detail this book offered is the football analogy
*90% of this book is brief case studies
*Tons of plugs into companies Kleiner Perkins invested
*Lots of reference to Intel and Andy Grove so if you are looking for solid mgmt advise read "High Output Management" instead

[RoWoSthlm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big proponent of written goals with systematic follow-ups. Otherwise, they are just the dreams in the sky, which might accidentally realize, but, most often, they will not. John Doerr presents his approach to goal-setting and ways for following them up. His system is called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

The author’s system is solid and, apparently, has been implemented with great success at several outstanding companies like Google.

I can’t agree with the proclamation that the method is revolutionary. It is based on a well-known goal setting philosophy which stresses on importance of defining a few, challenging, realistic, and measurable goals, which are subject for a continuous follow-up. That is what, basically, suggested through the OKR method.

More than half of the book are case studies with a lot of words which are quite tedious and seldom inspiring. The story often goes like this - we started a company, we implemented goal management system, we struggled with this and that, and whoops, now we are an extremely successful company. Anyway, the book was worth reading, since I found some for me new and excellent points about how to deal with stretched goals and some interesting angles on feedback management.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1999, John Doerr got his VC firm Kleiner Perkins to invest $11.8 million for 12% of the infant Google Corp. Current market cap (Dec 2018) for Google is around $743 billion, so Kleiner Perkins' 12% would be worth (say) $89 billion. Doerr himself has a personal net worth of around $7 billion. So, if he's writing a book on how to achieve those sorts of results, he has earned our respectful attention. Plus the book is clearly written, and short. There are caveats, as you can see in nearby reviews, such as https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Doerr started working at Intel in 1974. He’d come to California for the summer hoping to reconnect with an old girlfriend — who he found was also working at Intel. She wasn’t pleased to see him. But Doerr was persistent, and he married Ann Howland, another Rice electrical engineer, in 1978. They're still married, 40 years on....

At Intel, Doerr became one of the firm’s most successful sales engineers. He grew to admire Andy Grove, who he considers to be the father of the OKR idea, although Doerr traces the origins of the idea back to Peter Drucker, in the 1950s. Old-timers will recall MBO, Managemeent by Objectives, which was the foundation for the HP Way, https://www.hpalumni.org/hp_way.htm
OKRs: “Objectives and Key Results,” https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/okr-...

By 1975, Grove’s OKR system was fully developed, and was put to a severe test in 1979, when Motorola released its 68000 chip, a direct competitor to Intel’s 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086. Many thought the Motorola chip was superior. Groves found the Motorola chip a mortal threat to Intel’s very existence — a fight he wrote about in detail in his 1988 book “Only the Paranoid Survive". Intel won that battle through use of Groves’ OKR technique, in Doerr’s opinion, which he relates in detail. And I loved that Andy Groves kept a big red “BULLSHIT!” rubber stamp on his desk!

In 1980, Doerr was offered a VC job with Kleiner Perkins. Andy Grove told him, "John, venture capital, that's not a real job. It's like being a real estate agent."

Doerr continues as an apostle for the Andy Groves-style OKR system, and says Grove’s Intel was the best-run company he’d ever seen. By the time he pitched Google on the OKR system, he’d given his OKR pitch to at least 50 start-ups. He had the Google engineers sold at the metrics. Early Googler Marissa Myer would say, “It’s not a key result unless it has a number.”

OKRs clearly work, but the book gets disjointed about how to actually implement them — one size doesn’t fit all, and clearly each company or org will have to experiment to get the method to work for them. The case studies are scattershot, but so what? If you’re not getting anything out of one, skip to the next (I skipped Bono!). The culture stuff: OK, company culture is important, and you want your company to have a good one -- but I don't think you will learn how to fix a bad culture here. This is probably the weakest part of the book. Somehow, I think there are consultants available to help you....

It's an uneven book, but these are good people, who've walked the walk. I learned interesting stuff, and Valley lore that was new to me. Such as, Susan Wojcicki's garage is where Google got its start, in 1998. I think she is employee #17, runs YouTube, and devised AdSense that supplies most of Google's revenue. "Only" a half-billionaire!

Overall rating, 3.5 stars, rounded up. Best review I saw here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... And here's a good review, by an insider: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Website for the book: https://www.whatmatters.com/

[Oleksandr Golovatyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool book. Read on one breath. The book is full of interesting stories of integration of OKR into successful companies and organizations such as Intel, Google, One, Zume Pizza, Adobe, Lumeris, Gates Foundation and others. I highly recommend reading.
----------------------
Крута книга. Прочитав на одному подиху. Книга сповнена цікавих історій інтеграції OKR в успішних компаніях та організаціях таких, як Intel, Google, One, Zume Pizza, Adobe, Lumeris благодійний фонд Гейтсів та інші. Дуже рекомендую для прочитання.

[Ali Sattari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been a ~10 page essay.

[ScienceOfSuccess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate to grade this kind of books. Any grade from 2 to 5 would be explainable.

There is a clear message so simple you can't miss it...
'The OKRs system is better than goals because goals can measure anything and everything, and OKR's focus on measuring what matters.'
...and then there are 20 examples of how it works.

For me, this book could be a blog post. I don't need quotes from Bono to believe this system works, but when I think more about it, I'd probably forget OKR's and just move one forgetting this book in a few weeks.

I just wish every manager would read it. Even life managers like you and me ;)

[Geoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of these kind of books because I'm assuming that they'll be read by someone in the senior leadership of my company and then I'll need to respond to the new exciting fad they want to have the company embrace without critical thinking.

This book demonstrated without fail that Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can produce microprocessors, save people from malaria and HIV/AIDS and deliver HOT pizzas made by robots!

If I bought into the silicon valley/startup hero worship echo chamber that it appears the author is very much invested in, then maybe I would have embraced this book more. But the problem is that this book doesn't dive into OKRs almost at all and really was an excuse for the author to wax poetic about some of the celebrities he's worked with in the past.

Objective:
Write an excruciating book about setting goals with a specific system

Key Results:
1. Never specifically describe the system.
2. Have biased people come in and talk about how great their companies are but not specifically explain what OKRs had to do with their success except in vague platitudes.
3. In the audio version of the book make sure that you have a narrator who clearly has never read a book for audio listening before and that the celebrities read their own essays and also make the truly horrible decision to have a voice actor for someone to read anything Andy Grove's may have been quoted saying.

Why is this not a one star? I don't know... Maybe because it was at least passible as an introduction to the idea of objectives and key results and I like the idea of sharing goals to allow for a greater chance of success for achievement.

[Piotr Pisarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an ex-Googler, I’m quite familiar with OKRs -
They are a key management tool in the company. While they sometime frustrate you, they are your key northstar. Having left a few years ago, i do have to say i miss them, and I encourage all companies and founders to instill them.

John’s book is a great intro to the OKR system, used by all leading companies worldwide. It provides clear examples and use cases. If you’re a founder, this should be a new position on your must read list.

[Mindaugas Mozūras · Rating 3 out of 5]

If we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing.

OKRs, as a tool, seems solid.

The book itself is just ok. It's filled with a collection of stories of companies using OKRs. While some stories were fun to read, they fail to convince that OKRs were the catalyst for success.

[Herve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kleiner Perkins is a, not to say the VC brand name – but there is also Sequoia. When their partners write something, it is often worth reading. And this month two of them publish a book! I begin here with John Doerr and his Measure What Matters - www.whatmatters.com (though this is the paperback publication – the hardcover was published in 2017). In my next review I will write about Komisar’s Straight Talk for Startups

Ideas are Easy. Implementation is Everything.

Doerr is a Silicon Valley legend. He owes a lot to the pioneers of Silicon Valley, such as Noyce and Moore and particularly to Andy Grove, whom he mentions a lot: he calls him one of the father of OKRs. Chapter 2 is about Grove who said “there are so many people working so hard and achieving so little”. It reminds me of The Innovation Illusion: How So Little is Created by So Many Working So Hard. And many owe to him, beginning with the Google founders. Indeed Larry Page is the author of a short, 2-page and powerful foreword about OKRs: “OKRs are a simple process that helps drive varied organizations forward… OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth, many times over.”

And Doerr begins with a tribute to Google and its two founders (page 4):
Sergey was exuberant, mercurial, strongly opinionated, and able to leap intellectual chasms in a single bound. A Soviet-born immigrant, he was a canny, creative negotiator and a principled leader. Sergey was restless, always pushing for more; he might drop to the floor in the middle of a meeting for a set of push-ups.
Larry was an engineer’s engineer, the son of a computer science pioneer. He was a soft-spoken nonconformist, a rebel with a 10x cause: to make the internet exponentially relevant. While Sergey crafted the commerce of technology, Larry toiled on the product and imagined the impossible. He was a blue-sky thinker with his feet on the ground.

So what are these OKRs? It’s an acronym for Objective and Key Results. “An objective is simply WHAT is to be achieved. Key Results benchmark and monitor HOW to get to the objective.” (Page 7) But there is no recipe. Each company or organization should have its own. “By definition, start-ups wrestle with ambiguity… You’re not going to get the system just right the first time around. It’s not going to be perfect the second or third time, either. But don’t get discouraged. Persevere. You need to adapt it and make it your own.” (Page 75)

Now if you need that kind of advice, read Doerr’s book…

But I need to add more: I was impressed by the last chapter dedicated to “Coach” Bill Campbell. It is a very moving portrait of one of the least known celebrities of Silicon Valley. The Coach, the coach of Steve Jobs and the Google triumvirate, Page, Brin and Schmidt and of so many others.

I was also impressed by the subtlety of the message about OKRs. So difficult to explain as it may take a life to digest them. But the book is really enlightening. OKRs have four ingredients, focus, transparency, accountability and ambition (the BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goal). It is scary and at the same time generous. I think any leader should read that book…

[Marcin Zaremba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jestem zawiedziony.

To nie jest w sumie książka. To kolekcja cytatów i dłuższych wypowiedzi ludzi którzy wprowadzili OKRy w swoich organizacjach, okraszone wspomnieniami autora o Andym Grovie i jego pracy w Intelu.

Wszystko jest luźno powiązana długimi, powtarzającymi się zdaniami. Miałem cały czas poczucie że są one w książce tylko po to aby dobić do tych symbolicznych 300 stron i mieć prawo nazwać to książką. Poza tym mam spore wątpliwości czy to napisał faktycznie Doerr a nie przypadkiem jakiś ghostwriter.

Co do samego tematu: o OKRach jest mało. Niewiele jest o wdrażaniu ich, metodach analizy, sposobie zapisu. Dużo natomiast pośrednio i bezpośrednio o tym jacy świetni są ci, którzy już OKRy wdrożyli.

Jest jednak kilka fragmentów-perełek. Wspomnienia o „Operation Crush” Intela czy też tym jak Bono zarządza fundacją ONE są warte przeczytania.

Całość jednak w mojej ocenie dałoby się zmieścić w jednym długim wpisie na Medium. Z dużej chmury mały deszcz.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3.5 stars. The title suggests that it will guide you in defining objectives and key results. However, it's more of a memoir of how this method had worked for the many companies that the author was involved with (hence, the negative reviews for self-aggrandizing). The few important lessons from the book are select 3-5 objectives every quarter (specifically 'what' has to happen to increase business value), identify the key results needed ('how' to reach the goal - what are the incremental outcomes that will get you closer to the goal), and share/discuss/commit to the OKRs. The idea of the book is good, but the execution is poor. The author worked with all these great companies, yet he uses a football analogy to explain how to formulate an OKR. A business objective is not so clear cut like sports where all the teams' goal is to win the game.

[Pavel Annenkov · Rating 5 out of 5]

О чем книга в целом. Известный инвестор, предприниматель и миллиардер из Долины рассказывает про один из самых важных инструментов управления OKR(Objectives and Key Results). Еще с 80- х годов применение OKR помогает достигать целей лидирующим технологическим компаниям и даже некоммерческим организациям. В книге детально описаны все 4 шага по внедрению этой методики и показано множество примеров того, как компании применяли у себя этот метод. Так как John Doerr один из влиятельнейших инвесторов в Долине, то ему удалось получить для книги рассказы по внедрению OKR от CEO и основателей Intel, Google, YouTube, Intuit, от Билла Гейтса и Боно. Это очень ценно.

Главный вывод из книги. Кроме того, чтобы найти быстрорастущий рынок и нишу, предпринимателю нужно настроить четкое исполнение поставленных задач. За каждым большим успехом стоят годы напряженной работы, жесткая расстановка приоритетов, постоянный поиск и тестирование работающих вариантов развития бизнеса и выход из зоны комфорта. Чудес не бывает.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

My review of the objectives and key results system: It's okay, I guess.

My review of Measure What Matters: Man, I had such a bad time reading this book. It's a meandering, self-indulgent, uncomfortable paean to unfettered capital gains and growth at all costs. It also only ever amounts to a very vague explanation of what objectives and key results are, how to write them, and how to track them. Also, it has Bono in it.

So, what you're left with is a bunch of stories about rich people who got a lot richer — peppered with the occasional allusion to how they made progress by declaring objectives and measuring the key results they sought to achieve in order to consider those objectives met.

If anyone gives this book five stars, they're probably a narc.

This book is very, very bad. It's the workflow-efficiency equivalent of a mandatory six-hour timeshare lecture. The entire philosophy can fit on a single sheet of paper. If you must work with objectives and key results, Wikipedia has all you need to get started.

God, this sucks. I just want my four hours back.

[Maciej Nowicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Measure What Matters, written by John Doerr, a successful investor and a venture capitalist, provides us with strategic thinking on how to how to set goals effectively and measure what really matters.

I think, the best recommendation I could put here are words of Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, who once said that he wished he had this book 20 years ago when they founded Google.

The book focuses on OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) a goal system used by Google, Intel, Oracle, LinkedIn, Sears and many other companies to create alignment, engagement and clarity around measurable goals. It is a collaborative goal-setting protocol for individuals, teams and companies.

First, the book determines four “superpowers” to focus on as the outcome of OKRs. They are:

Focus - High-performance organisations should aim at what’s important to dispell confusion and be aware of what doesn’t work for their business. As a leader, you have to make hard choices on that. Moreover, you have to be a precise communicator on each level, department, team and individual.
Align - With right OKR transparency, everyone’s goals, from the CEO to first-line employees, are openly shared. In such an arrangement each individual can link their objectives to the company’s business plan, identify cross-dependencies and synchronise themselves with other teams. By connecting each employee to the organisation’s success, top-down alignment brings sense to work. By deepening contributor’s sense of ownership, bottom-up OKRs boost engagement and innovation.
Track – possibility to be driven by proper data. It means that OKR’s should be aligned by periodic check-ins, objective classifying, and continuous revision — all in a spirit of no-judgment accountability. Key results in danger should trigger proper actions to get them back on track or to modify or alter them if warranted.
Stretch – right OKRs motivate employees to excel by achieving more than they originally aimed at. By stretching their limits and giving the freedom to fail, people release their creativity, ambitions.
Next, John Doerr explains how to implement the OKR system to maximise its benefits so in six steps you should:

List approximately 3 objectives on each level
Define 3 to 4 key results to be achieved for each objective
Communicate key results and objectives to everyone
Regularly track your results using a 0-100% scale
When objective’s result reaches 70-80%, consider it done
Review OKRs regularly and set new ones
Then, the book talks a lot about what most of us know, that goals should be SMART. It uses interesting examples which put extra light on how to set goals and make it even... (if you like to read my full review please visit my blog https://leadersarereaders.blog/measur...)

[Allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

You don't need to read this book, because the most relevant points are summarized in this article: https://www.wired.com/story/when-john...

Venture capitalist John Doerr is passionate about objectives and key results. That's fine. I think most people would agree that it's helpful for an organization to set out 3-5 big picture goals (which he calls objectives) and measure progress through aligned, time-bound, and measurable indicators (which he calls results and others call metrics or key performance indicators). I just...don't think this approach is especially visionary. And it definitely does not require an entire book to lay out his framework. Things that made sense to me:

- Set transparent goals for individuals at all levels, from the intern to the CEO
- Align goals across departments; consider cascading goals vertically and horizontally
- Give staff the opportunity to set "bottom up" goals
- Have regular check-ins and course correction, as opposed to “setting and forgetting” goals.

Things that didn't make sense to me:

- Results have to be binary (achieved/not achieved)
- Set stretch goals that you think may be impossible to inspire people*

The book is padded with anecdotal evidence from big name organizations the author has funded; creating a clear incentive to adopt the author’s approach and assure him that it has worked! (I have repeatedly observed that people making investments want to provide advice. Everyone believes their own experience is valuable. I suppose that’s human nature, but the organizations seeking funding need your millions more than your mantra.)

*I strongly disagree; this approach frequently results in unrealistic goals that employees fail to achieve. Staff are then penalized for their “failure,” become demoralized, and quit. (I have seen this at multiple organizations, especially when a leader doesn’t feel he or she can push back on unattainable goals set by the Board or CEO.) I think an organization should set goals that are ambitious but reasonable; if you achieve those goals, you have succeeded.

Tl;dr

[KVG · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's nothing wrong with a goal-setting model, and John Doerr gives a pretty good one. I've seen a lot of chatter on here about how people don't understand how to set OKRs still. That surprises me. Doerr sets out a good playbook to do it:

- Set a goal
- Establish measurable, achievable, challenging metrics that, if met, would mean great strides to achieving that goal
- Have goals that balance themselves (e.g. don't just set growth without quality goals).
- Make goals and metrics transparent + public
- Track them and keep people accountable to them but _do not_ tie them to compensation.
- Revisit regularly
- Pivot if needed

(I suspect folks' frustration is that Doerr does not tell you how to pick what matters. That is maybe the hardest thing of all, and neither he nor anyone else can do that for you or for your business).

That said, the bullet points above are basically the book. It's padded with case studies and could have instead been a NYT Magazine article.

I'm also suspect of the case studies. First, the nonprofit examples are ridiculous: Gates' and Bono's nonprofits as case studies?! Why not use money-strapped orgs without celeb founders and resources - that would _really_ show you if OKRs work. Doerr also overlooks that Google had the best product in the market. That can do a lot to paper over other issues. I'm not saying OKRs didn't help, but Doerr's incentives as an OKR evangelist are to push them at all costs.

If he has to have case studies, it would be more interesting and more useful if Doerr were to look at companies that adopted OKRs and it didn't work out. That, to me, would provide more clear lessons.

Either way, if you need a goal model for yourself or to try at work, you could do worse. Skip the case studies, read the main chapters and the playbook at the end, and pick/choose/adapt what you think would work for you.

[Simon Eskildsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The right book at the right time for me. The central premise (backed up by numerous studies) is that hard goals drive performance more than easy or no goals. If the vectors or where people are going point in different directions, they add up to zero. But if you get everybody pointing in the same direction, you maximize the results. OKRs are a good way to get there, and the book goes into numerous examples. Don't get too focused on the results, or you end up placing the gas tank six inches from the rear bumper. Or, you double the production of yams, but quadruple the cooking time. My favourite example of OKR is that of a sports team: the GM's goal is the super ball, and some revenue number. The coach's goals are along the lines of wins, the lead defence something else, and so on and so forth. These all cascade into the franchie's top-level goal. Really enjoyed his definition of an entrepreneur: Those who do more than anyone thinks possible, with less than anyone thinks possible. One thing I'd love for Doerr to have touched on are teams that have created systems that produce results without explicit goals. I've seen a few of those. They're rare, but why is it that this can at times work?

[Vishwanath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read on implementing OKRs by the master of them. The google/intel/bono case studies are all detailed and provide a lot of examples on how you can implement these in your own organizations. John Doerr built on the method he learnt at Intel under the great Andy Grove and then helped more than 50 companies implement those OKRs with a lot of success. The system obviously works but the true challenge is influencing the leadership in organization to follow such a methodical approach. This book should help with that cause hopefully.

[Phil Calçado · Rating 3 out of 5]

Repetitive but useful

The first chapters are great, it gets quite repetitive after that. Too many case studies that repeat the message that OKRs are great, not enough interesting corner cases or other interesting tips.

[Vovka · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best book on OKRs. Not the best book on measuring what matters. An indispensable guide for anyone implementing OKRs in an org, or working to succeed in an org where OKRs rule.

[Федор Кривов · Rating 5 out of 5]

Выписал в конце методичку по составлению:

OKR: основные принципы доктора Гроува Суть здоровой культуры OKR – бескомпромиссная честность, отказ от личных интересов, глубочайшая преданность команде  – была неотъемлемой частью характера Энди Гроува. Однако именно его практический подход и менталитет инженера заставили систему работать. OKR – его наследие, самая ценная и надежная менеджерская практика. Перечислю несколько уроков, которым я научился в Intel от самого мастера и от Джима Лалли, ученика Энди и моего наставника. Чем меньше, тем больше. «Всего несколько аккуратно выбранных задач, – писал Гроув, – четко демонстрируют, чему мы говорим “да”, а чему – “нет”». Ограниченное количество OKR на каждый цикл – максимум три-пять – приводит к тому, что компании, команды и сотрудники выбирают только самое важное. В целом каждая цель должна быть привязана максимум к пяти ключевым результатам (см. главу 4 ). Формулировать цели снизу вверх. Чтобы добиться вовлеченности, следует поощрять команды и сотрудников, чтобы они самостоятельно формулировали примерно половину своих OKR, консультируясь с менеджерами. Когда все цели ставятся сверху вниз, это разрушает мотивацию (см. главу 7 ). Ничего не навязывать. OKR – совместный социальный контракт по формулировке приоритетов и методов оценки результатов. Даже после окончания дебатов по рассмотрению целей компании ключевые результаты еще можно обсуждать. Синхронизация необходима для максимально эффективного достижения цели (см. главу 7 ). Не забывать про гибкость. Если климат изменился, цель перестала быть практичной и актуальной, ключевые результаты можно модифицировать или даже отбросить посреди рабочего цикла (см. главу 10 ). Не бойтесь неудач. «Результат будет лучше, – писал Гроув, – если все стремятся к такому уровню достижений, который выходит за пределы их сегодняшних возможностей… Подобное целеполагание крайне важно, если вы хотите добиться наивысшей результативности от себя и своих подчиненных». Хотя конкретные приоритетные OKR необходимо выполнить в полной мере, амбициозные, сверхплановые OKR должны быть предельно сложными и даже недостижимыми. «Завышенные цели», как их называл Гроув, ведут организацию к новым высотам (см. главу 12 ). Инструмент, а не оружие. Система OKR, писал Гроув, «призвана отрегулировать работу человека – дать ему секундомер, чтобы он сам измерил свои результаты. Это не юридический документ для аттестации». Чтобы поощрять готовность рисковать и избежать неуместной осторожности, OKR и бонусы лучше разделить (см. главу 15 ). Терпение, решительность. Каждый процесс требует проб и ошибок. Гроув учил студентов iPOEC, и Intel «много раз спотыкался», применяя OKR: «Мы плохо понимали основную цель этой системы. И далеко не сразу стали грамотно использовать ее». Компании может понадобиться до четырехпяти квартальных циклов, чтобы в полной мере постичь систему, и еще больше времени, чтобы обрести зрелость и научиться ставить цели.
Как утверждал Стив Джобс: «Инновации – это когда ты говоришь “нет” тысяче вещей». В большинстве случаев идеальное количество ежеквартальных OKR варьируется от трех до пяти. Иногда руки чешутся поставить больше в установленных рамках, но обычно так поступать не стоит. Слишком много целей размывают фокус и мешают разглядеть то, что важно, или отвлекают нас на погоню за очередной новомодной тенденцией.
Анализ результатов цикла OKR. • Я выполнил все свои задачи? Если да, что помогло мне добиться успеха? • Если нет, какие трудности я встретил на своем пути? • Если бы я мог переписать выполненную задачу, что бы я изменил? • Из того, что я узнал, что могло бы изменить мой подход к следующим циклам OKR?
Амбициозные цели провалятся, если люди не верят в их достижимость. Вот тут-то и пригодится искусство правильной формулировки. Будучи мудрым менеджером, Шишир придал нашей большой страшно дерзкой задаче реалистичность. Хотя миллиард часов ежедневного просмотра кажется чудовищной цифрой, она представляет собой менее 20 % времени просмотра телевидения в мире. Этот контекст помог прояснить ситуацию, по крайней мере мне. Мы выбрали не произвольное число. Напротив: в мире было кое-что больше, чем мы, и мы пытались приблизиться к нему.
Для компаний, которые решили перейти на непрерывное управление производительностью, первый шаг прост и понятен: отделить материальное вознаграждение (прибавки и бонусы) от OKR. Это два совершенно разных вопроса, со своей последовательностью и графиком. Первый – ретроспективная оценка, обычно в конце года. Второй – непрерывный диалог лидеров с сотрудниками. Он опирается на пять подвопросов. • Над чем вы работаете? • Как продвигается работа; что удалось сделать по OKR? • Что-либо мешает вашей работе? • Какие действия нужны от меня, чтобы вы стали (более) успешны? • Как вы видите свой профессиональный рост и достижение поставленных целей в карьере?
Людям важно, что вы делаете, а не что говорите. В Lumeris было несколько топ-менеджеров с традиционным, авторитарным, подходом. Они не демонстрировали наши основные ценности: ответственность, подотчетность, страсть к работе, преданность команде. Все остальное не имело никакого значения, пока эти лидеры не покинули организацию. Мы проследили за тем, чтобы они ушли достойно и с уважением: вот один из показательных моментов любого трансформационного проекта.

Четыре суперсилы OKR 1. Приоритизация и обязательства. 2. Синхронизация и прозрачность. 3. Мониторинг. 4. Стремление к выдающимся результатам. Непрерывное управление производительностью. Значение культуры. Приоритизация и обязательства • Составьте план действий по циклу OKR. Рекомендую параллельный двойной трекинг с ежеквартальными (для краткосрочных целей) и ежегодными OKR (связанными с долгосрочными стратегиями). • Чтобы обдумать практические вопросы внедрения и повысить чувство ответственности и заинтересованности лидеров, начните внедрять OKR с руководства компании. Пускай процесс наберет динамику, прежде чем вовлекать в него сотрудников. • Назначьте координатора, чтобы в каждом цикле каждый сотрудник осознанно выбирал то, что действительно важно. • Сформулируйте от трех до пяти целей – что нужно выполнить – на цикл. Слишком много OKR распыляют и рассредоточивают работу. Увеличьте эффективность деятельности, определив, что не нужно делать, и отбросив, отложив или отодвинув это на второй план. • Выбирайте OKR, максимально приближающие к выдающимся результатам. • Материал для основных OKR можно найти в заявлении о миссии компании, стратегическом плане или общей теме, выбранной руководством. • Чтобы подчеркнуть важность цели отдела и обеспечить горизонтальную поддержку, «повысьте» ее до OKR компании. • Подберите для каждой цели не более пяти измеримых, конкретных, однозначных ключевых результатов с определенными сроками – как будет выполнена задача. По определению выполнение всех ключевых результатов приравнивается к достижению цели. • Для баланса и контроля качества сочетайте качественные и количественные ключевые результаты. • Если ключевой результат требует дополнительного внимания, «повысьте» его до цели на один или несколько циклов. • Самый важный элемент успеха OKR – убежденность и поддержка лидеров организации. Синхронизация и прозрачность • Мотивируйте сотрудников, демонстрируя, как их задачи связаны с в и дением лидера и приоритетами компании. Кратчайший путь к высоким результатам работы – прозрачные, публичные задачи вплоть до СЕО. • Используйте корпоративные собрания, чтобы объяснить, почему OKR важны для организации. И повторяйте это, пока сами не устанете слышать. • Применяя каскадные OKR, когда цели ставятся сверху, поощряйте обсуждение ключевых результатов с фронтлайн-сотрудниками. Инновации следует искать не в центре компании, а на периферии. • Примерно половина OKR должны быть предложены снизу вверх; поощряйте этот процесс. • Избегайте обособленности отделов, связывая команды с общими горизонтальными OKR. Межфункциональная работа позволяет принимать быстрые и скоординированные решения, без которых нелегко заполучить конкурентное преимущество. • Вся горизонтальная межфункциональная взаимозависимость должны быть явной и видимой. • Когда OKR пересматривают и вычеркивают из списка за ненадобностью, проследите, чтобы все участники процесса знали об этом. Мониторинг и подотчетность • Чтобы построить культуру ответственности и подотчетности, внедрите регулярный мониторинг и честную, объективную оценку, причем начните сверху. Когда лидеры открыто признают свои ошибки, сотрудники не боятся идти на оправданный риск. • Мотивируйте сотрудников не столько бонусами, сколько открытой, ощутимой оценкой их достижений. • Чтобы OKR всегда оставались своевременными и актуальными, координатор должен проводить регулярный мониторинг хода работы. Частые проверки позволяют командам и сотрудникам оперативно корректировать курс или оперативно узнавать о своих ошибках. • Чтобы поддержать высокий уровень результатов, поощряйте еженедельные личные встречи сотрудников и менеджеров, а также ежемесячные встречи (обсуждения) коллектива отдела. • По мере изменений условий не затягивайте с пересмотром, добавлением и удалением OKR, при необходимости – даже посреди цикла. Цели не высечены в камне. Будет контрпродуктивно упрямо держаться за задачи, которые уже неактуальны и недостижимы. • В конце цикла используйте классификацию OKR и субъективную самооценку для анализа результатов работы, отпразднуйте достижения, а затем составьте план и внесите усовершенствования на будущее. Прежде чем заняться следующим циклом, поразмыслите о том, чего удалось достичь в предыдущем. • Чтобы регулярно обновлять данные по проделанной работе, используйте специализированную, автоматизированную, облачную платформу. Лучше всего подойдут публичные, коллективные системы целеполагания в режиме реального времени. Стремитесь к уникальным результатам • В начале каждого цикла отделите цели, которые необходимо выполнить на 100 % (приоритетные OKR), и те, которые можно назвать большими, страшными, дерзкими (амбициозные OKR). • Создайте в коллек��иве условия, в которых сотрудники могут ошибаться, не боясь критики и осуждения. • Чтобы стимулировать решение проблем и подтолкнуть людей к высоким достижениям, ставьте амбициозные цели, даже если это означает, что некоторые квартальные цели не удастся выполнить. Однако не ставьте планку настолько высоко, чтобы OKR были явно нереалистичными. Командный дух падает, когда люди знают, что не смогут достичь успеха. • Чтобы добиться скачков в продуктивности или инновационности, следуйте принципу десятикратного роста (Google) и замените постепенные, пошаговые OKR на экспоненциальные задачи. Именно так переосмысливаются и преображаются целые отрасли. • Амбициозные OKR должны соответствовать культуре организации. Оптимальные цели могут меняться со временем, в зависимости от операционных нужд очередного цикла. • Когда команде не удается выполнить амбициозные OKR, перенесите их на следующий цикл, если задача еще актуальна. Непрерывное управление производительностью • Чтобы решать вопросы до того, как они перерастут в проблемы, и оказать необходимую поддержку сотрудникам, следует отказаться от ежегодных проверок производительности в пользу непрерывного контроля производительности. • Создайте условия для амбициозного целеполагания, отделив OKR, нацеленные на будущее, от анализа результатов работы постфактум. Если достижение целей напрямую связано с материальными бонусами, то это породит чрезмерно осторожное поведение и уклонение от рисков. • Замените конкурентные рейтинги и ранжирование сотрудников на прозрачные, основанные на сильных сторонах, многоуровневые критерии оценки производительности. Помимо цифр, следует учитывать роль сотрудника в команде, его взаимодействие и общение с коллегами, а также амбициозность в вопросах целеполагания. • Опирайтесь на внутреннюю мотивацию – значимую работу и возможности для роста, они важнее финансовых стимулов и намного эффективнее. • Чтобы создать все условия для значительных бизнес-результатов, внедрите регулярные CFR (обсуждения, обратная связь и признание), помимо структурированного целеполагания. Прозрачные OKR делают коучинг более конкретным и полезным. Непрерывные CFR поддерживают дух сотрудничества и высочайший уровень повседневной работы. • В обсуждении производительности между менеджерами и подчиненными позвольте сотрудникам вести разговор. Роль менеджера – собрать информацию и оставаться коучем. • Обратная связь по результатам работы должна быть двусторонней, ситуативной и многоплановой, не ограниченной организационной структурой. • Используйте анонимные опросы (пульсации) для обратной связи в онлайн-режиме по определенным проектам или общему настроению команды. • Укрепите связи между командами и отделами через обратную связь коллег в дополнение к межфункциональным OKR. • Введите принцип признания между коллегами, чтобы усилить вовлеченность и качество работы. Для максимального воздействия признание должно быть частым, конкретным, наглядным и связанным с основными OKR.
Значимость культуры • Основные OKR должны быть связаны с миссией, в и дением и важнейшими ценностями организации (ее путеводной звездой). • Передавайте культурные ценности компании словами, но в основном поступками. • Поощряйте пиковую производительность через сотрудничество и отчетность. Если у команды общие OKR, назначьте каждому сотруднику личные ключевые результаты, по которым он станет отчитываться. • Чтобы развивать культуру высокой мотивации, сбалансируйте «катализаторы» OKR – действия, которые поддерживают работу, с  «подпиткой» CFR – действиями, направленными на межличностную поддержку или даже случайные добрые поступки. • Используйте OKR, чтобы стимулировать прозрачность, ясность, целеустремленность и ориентацию на общую картину. Используйте CFR, чтобы взращивать позитивность, энтузиазм, амбициозное мышление и повседневное совершенствование. • Отслеживайте трудности культурного характера, особенно проблему отчетности и доверия, и решите эти вопросы до внедрения OKR.

[Eugene · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book about OKR (objectives - key results) goals management system invented by Peter Drucker and popularized by long time Intel CEO Andy Groove. Though the OKR system is well known now (see www.withgoogle.com) but this book provides the instruction and the details and nuances on the proper implementation along with interviews from managers and founders who are using OKR for the projects, including Bill Gates (Gates Foundation), Bono (U2), Sundar Pichai (Alphabet), Susan Wojcicki (YouTube) and others sharing their experience from using OKR.

It also includes a part about Coach, the famous coach Bill Campbell who was coaching Google founders, Steve Jobes and many others in software industry in Silicon Valley.

[Bjoern Rochel · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me (without prior exposure to OKRs) the book was perfect and gave me everything I needed in order to understand OKRs and CFRs. It's written by one of the guys who experienced OKRs at Intel and subsequently introduced them at many other companies (Google being one of the most prominent examples). The case studies are pretty engaging (for instance that pizza robot was pure nerd-porn). Overall I felt though that there were too many of them and the book could have been much shorter. The book contains a summary in the appendix with everything noteworthy which is ~25 pages long

[Soroosh Azary Marhabi · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book is all about OKRs and how they have been critical to success of some tech giants, and most of it's chapters have been written by founders of companies that john doerr is an investor. while this book has some interesting stories, it could have been way shorter than this. reading it book is like having 20 people to a seminar all repeating "brushing your teeth is good for you" without adding any more information than the previous person. by the way, using OKRs is good for you :)