Summary of Measure What Matters

SpeedyReads

• Publisher: SpeedyReads
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783965089709
• Topic: Betriebswirtschaft
• Subtopic: Unternehmensstrategie

Objectives and key results or OKRs refer to a process that assists in moving organizations ahead. OKRs offer visibility and enable pushing back while staying fruitful. OKRs have helped Google accomplish 10-times growth several times and made it possible for Google to arrange information all over the globe. They have also made it possible for Google's workers to work accurately.Part 1 of the book details the main features of the OKR system and the way in which it converts good ideas into better execution and workplace satisfaction. Part 2 shares the main applications and implications of OKRs for a new work setting.

Summary of Measure What Matters Part 1: OKRs in Action

 

Chapter 1: Google, Meet OKRs

 

OKRs shaped John Doerr at Intel and saved him at Sun Microsystems. When he joined founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Google, he brought OKRs as a gift. John Doerr believed in the founder’s vision to change the world.

 

OKRs are a management methodology that proves to be instrumental in guaranteeing that the firm's efforts all over the organization center on identical significant issues.

 

The main definition of OKRs is shared below:

 

Objectives

 

An objective refers to what is to be accomplished. In accord with their definition, objectives are important, concrete, action-oriented and inspirational. With the right kind of design and deployment, they can act as a weapon against blurred thinking and execution. 

 

Key Results engage in benchmarking and monitoring how to accomplish the objectives. For Key Results (KRs) to be effective, they need to be particular and time-bound. Even though they are forceful and intense, they are also realistic. Their most significant feature is being measurable and verifiable. A key result's prerequisites are either black or white and there are no ambiguities. When the assigned period (typically a financial quarter) comes to an end, the key result is announced to be met/achieved or not. An objective can work on a long-term basis, rolled over for a year or longer but a key result evolves with the progression of work. Completion of every key result linked with an objective translates into the achievement of that particular objective. If this isn’t the case, the OKR was not properly mapped out.

 

Doerr's objective that day was to create a planning model for Google. The three key results to measure the objective were as follows. KR # 1 stated that Doerr would finish his presentation on time. KR#2 underlined that they would design a sample collection of quarterly Google OKRs. KR#3 signified that Doerr would get management’s consent for an OKR trial spanning over three months. 

 

OKRs further cover our main goals. They channel efforts and coordination. They connect miscellaneous operations to offer purpose and cohesion to the whole system of a firm.

 

Summary of Measure What Matters Chapter 2: The Father of OKRs

When John Doerr joined Intel, Andy Grove was running the organization. What mattered at Intel, according to Grove, was not what people knew. It was what they did with their knowledge or obtained or achieved. Execution took precedence over knowledge.

The father of OKRs, Andy Grove, defined objectives and key results as two key phrases, which match the two purposes. The objective is synonymous with the direction. An objective underlined by Grove was they wished to take over the mid-range microcomputer component business. A key result mentioned by him for that quarter was to win ten new designs for the 8085. It was a milestone but the two were not the same.

The key result should be strictly measurable. In the end when you ask if you did that or not, it should be a simple yes or no answer, with no two ways or disagreements regarding it. As Doerr notes, whether we dominated the mid-range microcomputer business was something we would debate in the subsequent years but we would definitely know over the subsequent quarter whether we won ten new designs or not. By following the first ever great modern thinker of business management, Peter Drucker, Grove had gotten rid of the out-of-date management orthodoxy of the time to give rise to a simple and original way. Drucker formulated the MBO principle: management by objectives. However, Grove's OKR system responded to the limitations of the MBO system.

One of the basics surrounding OKRs that Doerr learned from Grove stated that less is more since a small number of objectives and key results that are selected with care can work wonders for an organization. Also, setting goals from the bottom up and asking individuals and teams to map out approximately 50% of their OKRs with the h...