Measure What Matters Summary, Key Lessons & Ideas

Lesson 1: Packing Smart for Your Dream: The OKR Cheat Sheet

Packing for a mountain climb can be tricky. You want to bring lots of stuff, like a magnifying glass for bugs or your favorite stuffed animal. But your backpack can only hold so much.

That’s where OKRs come in! They’re like a special list to help you pack just the right things.

Imagine your dream is reaching the top of the mountain and seeing an amazing view. OKRs help you focus on what you need for that dream. So, you might skip the magnifying glass but pack snacks for energy.

OKRs are like talking to your dream. They help you pick the most important stuff – warm clothes, good shoes, and plenty of food. By focusing on what matters most, you can pack light, climb well, and enjoy the view at the top!

Lesson 2: Dream Big: Setting High Goals with OKRs

Sometimes, it feels scary to think about big goals. Like reaching the tip of a mountain – it can seem impossible! But that’s exactly what Objectives are all about in OKRs.

Objectives are like your biggest dreams. They’re the things you want to achieve, even if they seem super hard. So, don’t be afraid to dream big!

When you set a high goal, it’s like aiming for the stars. Sure, you might not reach to the top of the mountain, but aiming high pushes you to climb way higher than if you aimed for a little hill.

It’s like a challenge that makes you stronger. Even if you don’t reach the very top, you’ll still reach much higher than you ever thought you could. And that’s what makes setting ambitious goals with OKRs so exciting!

Lesson 3: Working Together with OKRs: Being Clear and On the Same Page

Just like in friendships, everyone needs to be honest and open in organizations too. That’s why transparency is key when using OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to reach goals.

Research shows that when goals are shared, people feel more motivated to achieve them. This means when others can see what you’re working on, you’re more likely to keep going.

OKRs aren’t just for big company goals; they’re also for teams and individuals. But for them to work well, everyone’s goals need to match up with the big-picture goals of the company.

But that doesn’t mean bosses should control everything. It’s better when there’s a mix of top-down (from the top to the bottom) and bottom-up (from the bottom to the top) approaches. This way, everyone can work together and come up with new ideas.

For example, Google lets its engineers spend 20 percent of their time on their projects. This has led to cool inventions like Gmail!

However, getting everyone on the same page can be tough. For instance, at MyFitnessPal, different teams had goals that didn’t quite fit together. They fixed this by having meetings where teams shared their goals and found ways to help each other.

By being clear and working together with OKRs, teams can make sure everyone’s efforts are going in the right direction. This teamwork helps everyone succeed and brings awesome ideas to life!

Lesson 4: Keeping Track of Your Goals: Staying on Course

Tracking your goals is like making sure you’re going in the right direction. Just like when you write down a goal, keeping track of it helps you know if you’re getting closer to achieving it.

At Google, they have meetings to talk about how they’re doing with their goals. They talk about what’s going well and if there are any problems they need to fix.

During these meetings, they decide if they should keep working on a goal, make changes, start something new, or stop if it’s not working. For example, if a goal isn’t helping like they hoped, they might stop it and try something different.

One person at a company called Remind had to stop a goal of making a new payment system because it wasn’t working. Instead, they started a new goal that was a big success.

To see how well they’re doing on their goals, Google uses a scale from 0 to 1.0. If they’re not making much progress, it’s red. If they’re making progress but haven’t finished, it’s yellow. And if they’ve finished, it’s green.

For example, when Intel wanted to show that their new product was great, they set a goal to send out 500 samples. They sent out 470, so they scored 0.9. That’s pretty good!