1. 1
The Guide to OKRs

2. 2
A Brief History

3. 3
The Good and Bad of MBOs
The Good The Bad
• Infrequently updated
• Siloed
• Management-driven
• Tied to performance
reviews and compensation
• MBOs ushered in era
of results-oriented
management

4. 4
A Brief History

5. 5
The OKRs Revolution
• Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are
invented at Intel
• KPCB’s John Doerr brings OKRs to Google
and more
Benefits
• Quarterly vs. Annual process
• Transparent and aligned
• Aspirational
• Not tied to performance
reviews/compensation

6. 6
So…
What are OKRs?

7. 7
The guide to OKRs
OKRs are a management
methodology that helps
companies focus effort on
the same important
issues throughout their
organization

8. 8
Objectives
• Personally significant and aspirational
‒ Should get you out of bed in the morning
• Significant for company
‒ Aligned w/, and supported by, entire org
As measured by…
What I want accomplished

9. 9
Key Results
• Clearly make the objective possible
• Measurable
• Limited in number
• Time related
How I will accomplish it

10. 10
Why use OKRs?
• Disciplines thinking
• Communicates accurately
• Inspires confidence that
everyone is working together
• Establishes indicators for
measuring progress
• Focuses effort
• Know exactly what you’re
working on
OKRs tell you & your team what you’re doing
THIS quarter & importantly, what you are NOT.
Rick Klau
Product Partner at Google Ventures

11. 11
Now that you’re convinced…how
do you actually do OKRs?

12. 12
John Doerr’s famous
football example

13. 13
General Manager
Head of PRHead Coach
OBJECTIVE
Make $ for
owners
KEY RESULTS
1. Win Super Bowl
2. Fill stands to 88%
OBJECTIVE
Win Super
Bowl
KEY RESULTS
1. 200 yd/game passing
attack
2. 3rd ranked defense in NFL
3. 25 yd punt return average
OBJECTIVE
Fill stands
to 88%
KEY RESULTS
1. Hire 3 colorful players
2. Get 2 Monday night games
3. Highlight key players

14. 14
Head of PRHead Coach
OBJECTIVE
Win Super
Bowl
KEY RESULTS
1. 200 yd/game passing attack
2. 3rd ranked defense in NFL
3. 25 yd punt return average
OBJECTIVE
Fill stands
to 88%
KEY RESULTS
1. Hire 3 colorful players
2. Get 2 Monday night games
3. Highlight key players
Offense Defense Special
Teams
Scouts Publicity
Agent
News
Staff
OBJECTIVE
200yd/game
passing attack
KEY RESULTS
75% Completion
OBJECTIVE
3rd ranked
defense in NFL
KEY RESULTS
Less than 100 yd
passing per
game
OBJECTIVE
25 yd punt
return average
KEY RESULTS
3 blocked punts
OBJECTIVE
Hire 3 colorful
players
KEY RESULTS
Visit top 25
colleges
OBJECTIVE
Get 2 Monday
night games
KEY RESULTS
5 ESPN special
features
OBJECTIVE
Highlight key
players
KEY RESULTS
Hire 10 new
cheerleaders

15. 15
Some Best Practices to Remember
• Focus on 3-5 objectives at a time
‒ With 3-5 key results for each
• At least 60% of objectives should be
bottom up
- Too much top-down dictation kills
motivation and aspiration
• Performance evaluations should be
completely separate from OKRs
- Keeping the two separate encourages
workers to set aspirational OKRs
- Tying the two together stunts
innovative thinking, and leads to
sandbagging

16. 16
Grading OKRs
• Grading and reflecting on past OKR progress is critical for setting future OKRs
• According to John Doerr & Google, a total grade of 60 - 70% = sweet-spot
Larry’s Objective Win Super Bowl Owner Status Grade
• 1. 200 yards a game passing attack Jeff • 250 yrds/game
• 2. 3rd ranked defense in NFL Joe • 9th ranked defense
• 3. 25 yard punt return average Aaron • 10 yrds punt return avg
TOTAL
1
0.7
0.4
0.7

17. 17
Taking OKRs to the Next Level
• They have not reached their full
potential
‒ Held back by antiquated
implementation
• OKRs are powerful when they are:
‒ Adaptable and dynamic. Not static
‒ Open and connected. Not siloed
• Fortunately, innovative technologies
and Goal Science™ are bringing OKRs
into the modern age Kris Duggan
CEO of BetterWorks
“OKRs are a timeless framework, but the methods for
implementing them are antiquated. They need to be modernized.”

18. 18
Goal Science™ Thinking
Connected Supported Progress-based Adaptable Aspirational
Transparent and
aligned
Social reinforcement
and recognition
Frequent and
measurable feedback
Flexibility to respond
to changing
priorities
Retrospection to
encourage excellence

19. 19
Connected
Transparent, aligned and all
individuals participate
People view their
manager’s goals 20% more
often than their own

20. 20
Supported
Working transparently
with social reinforcement
and recognition
27% of @mentions are
made by someone other
than the goal owner

21. 21
Progress-based
Frequent, measureable
feedback and ongoing wins
Goals updated in the first
month are 3X more likely to
be updated frequently

22. 22
Adaptable
Flexibility to respond to
changing priorities and
business needs
88% of stall points are
within the control of the
company

23. 23
Aspirational
Retrospection to
encourage excellence
Top-performing department
at an industry leading
energy company:
Average progress: 82%
Average score: 97%

24. 24
Why use BetterWorks for OKRs?
Disciplines
Thinking
1
Communicates
accurately
• Lets everyone know
what’s important
• …and supports
everyone with
relevant feedback
2
Establishes indicators for
measuring progress
• …and captures your
progress in real-time
3 4
Focus
efforts
• Know exactly what
you're working on
• And WHY you are
working on it!

25. 25
@betterworks
BetterWorksHQ
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