Measure What Matters

OKRs stands for Objectives and Key Result, where:

• Objectives are the WHAT you’re trying to achieve and
• The key results are the HOW you’re going to achieve it.

In my opinion, this book could easily be turned into a blog post since the entire OKR concept fits onto one side of an A4 sheet. In fact, the book isn’t about using OKRs at all - it’s more about celebrating a few lucky Silicon Valley success stories like Intel, Google, One, Zume Pizza, Adobe, Lumeris, and Gates Foundation. You will not be able to apply anything you learn in these case studies to your own work or company since they are extremely specific to these companies.

It’s difficult for me to agree with the claim that the method is revolutionary. It is based on a well-known goal-setting philosophy, which stresses the importance of defining a few, challenging, realistic, and measurable goals that are monitored continuously over time.

If you want a goal model to try on your own or at work, I recommend the following: Skip the case studies, read the main chapters and the playbook at the end, then pick and choose what works for you. Also, you can find a summary of the most important points in this article: When John Doerr Brought a ‘Gift’ to Google’s Founders