Objectives and Key Results As a Navigation System To Set Priorities. Recently, John Doerr published a new book called “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs.” And it has rekindled interest in Objectives and Key Results (OKR). John was was first exposed to OKRs at Intel in the 1970s. At the time, it was called “Management By Objectives (MBO)” by Andy Grove (former Chairman and CEO of Intel.) John called Andy the “Father of OKRs” and credited Andy for creating and inculcating a new way of structured goal setting. What can be a better way to learn how to be successful with OKRs than learning from Andy? https://medium.com/swlh/what-you-must-know-about-objectives-and-key-results-to-be-successful-at-all-levels-157c9dc46056

1. 12/26/2018 What You Must Know About Objectives and Key Results To Be Successful At All Levels
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WhatYou Must Know About Objectives
and Key ResultsTo Be Successful At
All Levels
Objectives and Key Results As a Navigation System To
Set Priorities
Recently, John Doerr published a new book called “Measure What
Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World
with OKRs.” And it has rekindled interest in Objectives and Key Results
(OKR). John was was rst exposed to OKRs at Intel in the 1970s. At the
time, it was called “Management By Objectives (MBO)” by Andy Grove
(former Chairman and CEO of Intel.)
John called Andy the “Father of OKRs” and credited Andy for creating
and inculcating a new way of structured goal setting. What can be a
better way to learn how to be successful with OKRs than learning from
Andy?
Desmond Yuen
Jun 9 · 4 min read
OKR As A Tool To Set Priorities—Align Work

2. 12/26/2018 What You Must Know About Objectives and Key Results To Be Successful At All Levels
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In Chapter 6 of his book “High Output Management”, Andy described
Management by Objectives as part of the planning process. According
to Andy, the idea behind MBO is extremely simple: If you don’t know
where you’re going, you will not get there. A successful MBO system
needs only to answer two questions:
Where do I want to go? (The answer provides the objective.)
How will I pace myself to see if I am getting there?(The answer
gives us milestones, or key results.)
In the below edited extract from Andy’s book is a list of
recommendations from Andy on how to write e ective Objectives and
Key Results which you might nd useful.
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•
. . .
MBO is largely designed to provide feedback relevant to the
speci c task at hand; it should tell us how we are doing so we can
make adjustments in whatever we are doing if need be. For
example, a project might be delayed due to technical issues. As a
result, the completion date for a key result will have to be updated
to a later date.
The system of management by objectives assumes that our
concerns are short-range. Thus, we should know quite well what
our environment demands from us.
Since the objective is relatively short-range and the key results are
so speci c, a person should know without question whether she
has completed them and done it on time or not. Accordingly, to be
useful a key result must contain very speci c wording and dates,
so that when deadline time arrives, there is no room for
ambiguity.
An MBO system should set objectives for a relatively short period. For
example, if we plan on a yearly basis, the corresponding MBO
system’s time frame should be at least as often as quarterly or
perhaps even monthly. For a large company with many layers of
management, it might not be feasible to do it on a monthly or even
quarterly basis as there is a lot of overhead involved in de ning the
•
•
•
•

3. 12/26/2018 What You Must Know About Objectives and Key Results To Be Successful At All Levels
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OKRs and grading them. The right cadence for some large
companies might be every six months.
The one thing an MBO system should provide par excellence is focus.
This can only happen if we keep the number of objectives small.
Many of us fall victim to our inability to say “no” to too many
objectives. If we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing.
A few well-chosen objectives impart a clear message about what
we say “yes’ to and what we say “no” to: which is what we must
have if an MBO system is to work. For most individual
contributors, three objectives per quarter might be just right.
It is entirely possible for a subordinate to perform well and be
rated well even she missed her speci ed objective. The MBO
system is meant to pace a person: to place a stopwatch in her own
hand so she can gauge her own performance. It is not a legal
document upon which to base a performance review, but should
be just one input used to determine how well an individual is
doing. Don’t be encumbered by OKRs and lose sight of the big
picture. For example, a salesperson might failed to meet her
objective but still perform well by winning a big customer.
A manager’s objectives are supported by an appropriate set of key
results. Her objectives in turn are tied to her supervisor’s
objectives so that if the manager meets her objectives, her
supervisor will meet hers. For the MBO system to be e ective, it
starts from the top. A well written OKR by the top management will
enable the rest of the company to tie their works directly to the
company’s goals. Likewise, a poorly written OKR will send the
company in the wrong direction.
But the MBO system cannot be run mechanically by a computer.
The system requires judgement and common sense to set the
hierarchy of objectives and common sense are also required when
using MBO to guide you in your work from one way to the next.
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. . .
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