OKRs

Learn You OKRsDerek Watson July 24, 2015

What are OKRs?

What are OKRs

• Objectives

• Key results

• [mic drop]

Setting goals, tracking progress

(it’s as simple as that)

Classic: SMART

• Specific

• Measurable

• Assignable

• Realistic

• Time-bound

Modern: OKRsObjectives

• Ambitious

• Qualitative

• Time bound

• Actionable by the team

Key Results

• Measurable

• Makes the objective achievable

• Lead to objective grading

• Difficult, but not impossible

How toset personal OKRs

List 3 objectives

• Deliver world-class software reliability

• Master the Swift programming language

• Share my knowledge with the team

List 3 key results per

Deliver world-class software reliability

• Spend 25% of my time testing

• Reduce technical debt on my project by 2 weeks

• Achieve an application crash rate of 1%

List 3 key results per

Master the Swift programming language

• Read 2 books (1,000 pages) on the subject

• Build 5 sample applications in Swift

• Watch 10 hours of tutorial videos

List 3 key results per

Share my knowledge with the team

• Give 5 Friday Demos

• Perform 3 Lunch & Learns

• Spend 40 hours mentoring peers

We did it!Deliver world-class software reliability

• Spend 25% of my time testing my work

• Reduce technical debt on my project by 2 weeks

• Achieve an application crash rate of 1%

Master the Swift programming language

• Read 2 books (1,000 pages) on the subject

• Build 5 sample applications in Swift

• Watch 10 hours of tutorial videos

Share my knowledge with the team

• 5 Friday Demos

• 3 Lunch & Learns

• 40 hours spent mentoring peers

Share your OKRs with your team

Measure OKRs out of 100%

Review your OKRs and set new ones

Key results are not a to-do list

Separate your key results from your plan to achieve them

Deliver world-class software reliability

• Learn about unit testing

• Fix the problems on my latest project

• Reduce application crashes

Key results should be quantitative

Deliver world-class software reliability

• Spend 25% of my time testing

• Reduce technical debt on my project by 2 weeks

• Achieve an application crash rate of 1%

Objectives should be qualitative

Bad: “Write 500 unit tests” vs

Good: “Deliver world-class software reliability”

Be ambitious!Objectives of sufficient audacity, Key results beyond your reach

Aspirational and inspirational

Your objectives are the things that get you out of bed in the morning.

Bad: “Improve the reliability of my code” vs

Good: “Deliver world-class software reliability”

SummaryGuidelines

• List 3 objectives

• List 3 key results per objective

• Share your OKRs with the team

• Measure out of 100%

• Review regularly & reset

Tips & Traps

• Make your objectives qualitative

• Make your results quantitative

• Don’t make your results a to-do list

• Objectives should be aspirational, inspirational

• Be ambitious! 70% achievement is success

What are OKRs?

Setting goals, tracking progress

(it’s as simple as that)

Thanks!…to be continued at the cottage