Ever feel like your to-do list has taken on a life of its own – a well-intentioned effort at organisation that ends up adding more stress than relief? You’re not alone. Whether you’re running a business, leading a team, or simply trying to manage the family calendar, staying on track can feel like walking a tightrope while juggling eels. Slippery little suckers!
Now imagine writing that to-do list for a company as big as Google...
As Philip Aldrick shared in The Times:
The Google story is not the simple parable of technological ingenuity you might think… It is the tale of two successes. First, and most obvious, is the story of Larry Page’s remarkable abilities in computer science. Second, and almost as important, is the story of the venture capital that backed it.
Aldrick describes such investors as “management activists, sharing their expertise with idealistic entrepreneurs,” leading us to the focus of this week’s blog: John Doerr.
With experience at Intel, advising the Obama administration on economic recovery, and directing capital to giants like Amazon and Google, Doerr brings a wealth of strategic insight and a sharp understanding of the metrics and messages that really drive impact. In other words, he’s the guy with the master to-do list!
In his compelling 2018 book, Measure What Matters, Doerr shares the keys to his success – not only as an investor but also as a mentor and strategic partner.
In a recent video and newsletter, I’ve explored some of the unexpected consequences of target setting and checklists (think cobras and tailless rats running riot in the streets!). While there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with targets, maybe now’s a good time to explore a method of target setting that’s proven to work and has been adopted by some of the biggest names in tech as well as, believe it or not, the lead singer of U2.
Now, without any further ado, let’s open the Doerr…
OKRs in theory
At the core of Doerr's book lies the concept of objectives and key results (referred to throughout as "OKRs"). In essence, OKRs serve as a simple management tool: set a goal (objective) and track your progress toward it through specific benchmarks (key results).
Objectives - “the stuff of inspiration and far horizons”
For Doerr, the "objective" represents the "what":
An OBJECTIVE, I explained, is simply WHAT is to be achieved, no more and no less. By definition, objectives are significant, concrete, action oriented, and (ideally) inspirational.
So far, so simple. Yet why do so many of us struggle to set meaningful or relevant objectives?
Let’s imagine an OKR written with what Doerr describes as "fuzzy thinking"...
You're leading a marketing team, and have decided to adopt the OKR system to enhance your team's performance. But instead of giving clear direction, you throw out a vague objective: “Make our brand better.” But what does "better" mean? Does it involve improving customer perception? Boosting sales? Designing a more memorable logo? This objective is so broad and ambiguous that it’s barely worth writing.
So, what does a good objective look like?
Throughout the book, Doerr highlights the individual who helped him gain greater clarity: his mentor and inspiration, former Intel CEO Andy Grove. Grove understood the importance of ditching the jargon and being economical with words, explaining:
A few extremely well-chosen objectives impart a clear message about what we say ‘yes’ to and what we say ‘no’ to.
Something like this, then... “We want to dominate the mid-range microcomputer component business.”
Specific and ambitious, right? Upon first reading, we might be tempted to be pedantic (“What does 'dominate’ mean exactly?”, “define ‘mid-range’ for us, John!”) until we’re reminded that it’s not the job of the objective to define or test these terms. That’s where the KRs (key results) come in…
Key results:
If the “objective is the direction," as Doerr puts it, then the key results are the engine of the vehicle that takes us there:
KEY RESULTS benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. Effective KRs are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic. Most of all, they are measurable and verifiable.
While an objective should be qualitative, key results almost always incorporate a quantitative aspect. Doerr cites one of his many successful mentees, Marissa Mayer:
It’s not a key result unless it has a number… You either meet a key result’s requirements or you don’t; there is no gray area, no room for doubt.
OKRs in practice
Now, let’s delve into OKRs in practice…
Google applied the concept of OKRs to drive the success of its Chrome browser. The objective was to “build the best browser,” and instead of concentrating on ad clicks or engagement metrics, the key results focused solely on user numbers.
They set a goal of reaching 20 million weekly active users by the end of the first year. Although they initially fell short of this ambitious goal, the OKR inspired teams to continue pushing forward and innovating, such as expanding the browser’s compatibility with Mac and Linux operating systems.
Google conducted additional experiments, launched marketing campaigns, and consistently sought ways to enhance user experience. By the third quarter of the following year, the team reached a staggering 111 million active users.
As Larry Page attests:
John gave Google a tremendous gift all those years ago. OKRs have helped lead us to 10x growth, many times over. They’ve helped make our crazily bold mission of ‘organizing the world’s information’ perhaps even achievable. They’ve kept me and the rest of the company on time and on track when it mattered the most.
What more in the name of love?
So how does U2’s lead singer fit into all of this?
Well, Bono attributes his success with the ONE charity, which combats AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, to Doerr and the OKR system:
For the last ten years, they’ve helped clarify the organization’s priorities – a tall order when your mission is to change the world.
As you delve deeper into Bono’s philosophy, it becomes evident why the simplicity of OKRs resonated with him:
We were working on a single idea: debt cancellation for the poorest countries. We were good at that, choosing one fight at a time and going at it with a vicious schedule.
And it appears to have worked wonders. Back in 2017, Bono shared:
21 million people are accessing the antiretroviral therapies. It’s amazing. And AIDS-related deaths are down 45 percent in the last ten years. New HIV infections in children are down by more than half. [...] I believe we will live to see an AIDS-free world in our lifetime.
And therein lies the beauty of this system: an ambitious objective supported by key results pursued with “vicious” determination. This combination – balancing lofty ideals with specific, incremental targets that are relentlessly pursued – truly validates the OKR approach.
Conclusion
Setting objectives in the workplace can often be met with indifference and frustration: nobody enjoys the idea of a target-shaped stick that they might be punished with later. Therefore, a crucial aspect of creating successful objectives and key results is to ensure that the individuals responsible for achieving them are actively involved in their formulation.
At Johns Hopkins University Hospital in the U.S., doctors implemented checklists to decrease infections in ICUs, and the results were remarkable. The initiative was so effective that hospitals around the globe began to adopt the same approach. The secret to its success? Doctors set their own targets.
When implemented correctly – setting ambitions that are inspiring rather than intimidating, and metrics that are realistic rather than alienating – OKRs can ignite a drive to propel any organisation to the next level.
And when even Bono seems to have found what he was looking for, it’s wise for the rest of us to take notice.
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