Measure What Matters

1. “We use OKRs to plan what people are going to produce, track their progress vs. plan, and coordinate priorities and milestones between people and teams. We also use OKRs to help people stay focused on the most important goals, and help them avoid being distracted by urgent but less important goals.”

2. “Once top-line objectives are set, the real work begins. As they shift from planning to execution, managers and contributors alike tie their day-to-day activities to the organization’s vision. The term for this linkage is alignment, and its value cannot be overstated.”

3. “Leaders must get across the why as well as the what. Their people need more than milestones for motivation. They are thirsting for meaning, to understand how their goals relate to the mission. And the process can’t stop with unveiling top-line OKRs at a quarterly all-hands meeting. As LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner likes to say, “When you are tired of saying it, people are starting to hear it.”

4. “A tool, not a weapon. The OKR system, Grove wrote, “is meant to pace a person—to put a stopwatch in his own hand so he can gauge his own performance. It is not a legal document upon which to base a performance review.” To encourage risk taking and prevent sandbagging, OKRs and bonuses are best kept separate.”

5. “Key results are more earthbound and metric-driven. They typically include hard numbers for one or more gauges: revenue, growth, active users, quality, safety, market share, customer engagement.”

6. “people who recorded their goals and sent weekly progress reports to a friend attained 43 percent more of their objectives than those who merely thought about goals without sharing them.”

1. OKRs Drive Focus and Alignment

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) create organizational focus by limiting goals to what matters most. Objectives are qualitative and inspirational, while Key Results are quantitative and measurable. This system forces trade-offs and prevents teams from pursuing too many priorities simultaneously.

2. Set Ambitious Goals That Inspire Stretch

OKRs should be challenging enough that achieving 70% feels like success. Goals that are too easy don't drive innovation or exceptional performance. Stretch goals force teams to think differently, question assumptions, and find breakthrough solutions rather than incremental improvements.

3. Make Progress Visible and Transparent

Regular check-ins and transparent tracking create accountability and enable course correction. When everyone can see progress toward goals, it builds organizational alignment and allows teams to help each other. Transparency also prevents sandbagging and gaming of the system.

4. Separate OKRs from Compensation

Tying stretch goals directly to compensation encourages sandbagging and destroys the system's effectiveness. People will set achievable goals rather than ambitious ones if their pay depends on hitting 100%. Use OKRs for direction and inspiration, not performance reviews.

5. Combine Top-Down and Bottom-Up Goal Setting

The best OKR implementations blend leadership direction with team input. Leaders set high-level company objectives, but teams contribute their own OKRs that support those objectives. This creates buy-in while maintaining strategic alignment across the organization.