What are OKRs? Learn about Google's methodology for defining objectives and measuring results.
Through this article, you will be able to learn about a goal management methodology that is causing a furor in the entrepreneurial ecosystem thanks to the book Measure What Matters by John Doerr. This methodology is none other than Objective Key Results or OKRs.
The maximum reference of the same is Google, which has been using this system since 1999, when there were 30 employees, until today with more than 85,000 people.
Surely, if you ask Larry Page or Sergey Brin, Google’s founders, about the most influential people in Google’s success story, without hesitation, one of them would be John Doerr, the Silicon Valley investor who brought OKRs to Google in the first place.
History of OKRs
Although Google is the greatest exponent of OKRs, the credits must be given to its creator Andy Grove. Grove was COO, CEO and President of Intel, one of the largest companies in the world.
It is there, working at Intel, that in 1975 Doerr has his first contact with this system that would change his life.
What are OKRs?
Objectives and Key Results, as Doerr defines them in his book, are a protocol for defining the objectives of companies, teams and individuals and monitoring their results.
OKRs aren’t a panacea, but if a company has strong leadership and the right culture, OKRs are the perfect tool to guide it to success.
The most important thing about them is that they are transparent, simple and very easy to implement, allowing us to ensure that the efforts of the entire company are focused on what really matters.
According to Doerr, OKRs give us four superpowers:
- Focus and Commitment to Priorities
- Alignment and Connection for Teamwork
- Tracking responsibilities
- Training to achieve the ‘impossible’
How OKRs work
As the name suggests, OKRs consist of two parts that answer two simple questions:
- Where do I want to go? (objectives)
- How do I set the pace to see if I’m getting there? (key results)
The theory says that you have to set between 3 and 5 objectives and no more than 5 Key Results at a time. A good objective must also be measurable and have a frame of reference over time.
To make it simple, we will explain it with a single objective. Imagine that by 2019 our main goal is to learn a new language, for example, English. Ours can be built like this:
We have chosen a measurable milestone: passing the C2 exam. Once the “what” has been defined, we must define the steps we have to take in the first month to guide us towards success in achieving our goal.
The fact of writing down the objective and the initial steps makes us aware of where we have to put the focus. What we do in our time that does not contribute to completing our key results we know that it takes us a little further away from achieving our final goal.
Measuring OKR Results
Once we have defined the initial steps, How do we evaluate them?
At Google, for example, quarterly key results are marked, however, in companies that are at the beginning of the implementation of OKRs, they usually start by defining monthly key results.
Going back to the example at the end of the month, we’ll review our key results by giving them a score from 0 to 1, based on how well they are met:
Although the average of our Key Results may seem poor, it must be put in context with the difficulty of the same. At Google, the average for each quarter is around 0.6-0.7.
In fact, John Doerr considers that if all key results have a result of 1.0 they were too conservative.
Once our key results have been scored, we must ask ourselves the following questions:
- Does the goal we have set still make sense?
- Do the defined key results contribute to the final achievement?
- Is there anything that slows down being able to work on a key result?
- Do I need new key results to achieve my goals?
Once these questions have been answered, we redo our key results for the following month assuming that our annual goal is still valid. There’s nothing wrong with changing your goal during the year if it really makes sense.
In the example, two of the three key results have been modified. One because it has already been completed and it makes no sense to continue maintaining it, and the other because after talking to the academy teacher we have considered that for the learning stage in which we were it was not contributing effectively to achieve our final goal. In addition, we have added a fourth key result that we believe will help us additionally.
At the end of the month we will review the degree of compliance again and ask ourselves the questions that indicate if we are taking the steps at the necessary pace.
Conclusion
As we have said this system alone is not going to help us succeed, but if everything else goes along with it, It is a great method to help us achieve all the goals we set for ourselves, both professionally and personally.
OKRs are a system that allows you to focus on what really matters, in addition to being transparent, easy to implement and reviewable. By working a little every day on what really matters, you can achieve results that a priori seemed impossible to achieve.
If you want to research and delve into OKRs, don’t miss this selection of links that may be of interest to you:
