BookMarks #41: Measure What Matters

Title: Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs 

Author: John Doerr 

Genre: Non-fiction, Management, Business 

Published: 2018 

BookMarks 

In Measure What Matters, John Doerr talks about the concept and utility of Objectives & Key Results (OKRs in short) as a tool for goal-setting and evaluating business performance. 

OKRs were introduced by Andy Grove in Intel, where Doerr started his career, in the 1970s. From Intel, Doerr took the gospel of OKRs around the world, especially in the tech sector. Google has been one of the most faithful adopters of the OKR philosophy. 

Measure What Matters describes what OKRs are and provides case studies of its adoption in different organizations worldwide like Google, Adobe, Lumeris, Gates Foundation, ONE foundation etc. 

OKRs streamline a company’s objectives and are communicated to all teams and individuals who then align their own OKRs to the company’s ones. Even the progress tracking and monitoring is open to all. Regular reviews are carried out for re-calibration of Objectives. 

The distinctive feature of OKRs is that an OKR will be considered successful if 60-70% of the objective has been fulfilled. If you are achieving the complete goal, then you are not stretching yourself! And thus it sets groups on track to outperform themselves! 

However, the book presents a very rosy picture of OKRs and it is a sold as a panacea for a company’s success. What we do not learn is what happens if OKR approach doesn’t work! 

Previously on BookMarks: Poirot: The Complete Short Stories