Measure What Matters

by John Doerr

Superpower #1—Focus and Commit to Priorities

Superpower #2—Align and Connect for Teamwork

Superpower #3—Track for Accountability

no-judgment accountability.

Superpower #4—Stretch for Amazing

At Intel, Andy recruited “aggressive introverts” in his own image, people who solved problems quickly, objectively, systematically, and permanently.

When he saw a manager failing, he would try to find another role—perhaps at a lower level—where the person might succeed and regain some standing and respect.

The best way to solve a management problem, he believed, was through “creative confrontation”—by facing people “bluntly, directly, and unapologetically.”fn7

We don’t hire smart people to tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do. —Steve Jobs

Studies suggest that only 7 percent of employees “fully understand their company’s business strategies and what’s expected of them in order to help achieve the common goals.”

People who choose their destination will own a deeper awareness of what it takes to get there.

“The single greatest motivator is ‘making progress in one’s work.’ The days that people make progress are the days they feel most motivated and engaged.”

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

In my view, the key to satisfaction is to set aggressive goals, achieve most of them, pause to reflect on the achievement, and then repeat the cycle.

“We do not learn from experience … we learn from reflecting on experience.”

A computer on every desk and in every home. IBM and other people—with resources and skill sets way beyond ours—weren’t aiming for that goal. They didn’t see it as a possibility, so they weren’t pushing as hard to make it a reality.

In philanthropy, I see people confusing objectives with missions all the time. A mission is directional. An objective has a set of concrete steps that you’re intentionally engaged in and actually trying to go for.

OKRs push us far beyond our comfort zones. They lead us to achievements on the border between abilities and dreams.

“Big Hairy Audacious Goals”—Jim

A BHAG is a huge and daunting goal—like a big mountain to climb. It is clear, compelling, and people “get it” right away. A BHAG serves as a unifying focal point of effort, galvanizing people and creating team spirit as people strive toward a finish line. Like the 1960s NASA moon mission, a BHAG captures the imagination and grabs people in the gut.

“[T]he harder the goal the higher the level of performance

my favorite definition of entrepreneurs: Those who do more than anyone thinks possible … with less than anyone thinks possible.fn1

To succeed, a stretch goal cannot seem like a long march to nowhere. Nor can it be imposed from on high without regard to realities on the ground. Stretch your team too fast and too far, and it may snap. In pursuing high-effort, high-risk goals, employee commitment is essential. Leaders must convey two things: the importance of the outcome, and the belief that it’s attainable.

“If you set a crazy, ambitious goal and miss it, you’ll still achieve something remarkable.”

Engineers struggle with goal setting in two big ways. They hate crossing off anything they think is a good idea, and they habitually underestimate how long it takes to get things done.

Aspirational goals can prompt a reset for the entire organization. In our case, it inspired infrastructure initiatives throughout YouTube. People started saying, “If we’re going to be that big, maybe we need to redesign our architecture.

Divorce compensation (both raises and bonuses) from OKRs.

Individuals want to drive their own success. They don’t want to wait till the end of the year to be graded. They want to know how they’re doing while they’re doing it, and also what they need to do differently.

From Adobe’s experience, I’d say that a continuous performance management system has three requirements. The first is executive support. The second is clarity on company objectives and how they align with individual priorities—as set out in our “goals and expectations,” which equate to OKRs. The third is an investment in training to equip managers and leaders to be more effective.

OKRs and CFRs are proven vehicles for high performance and exponential growth.

It’s hard to deny the explicit value of OKRs, like how they help tie an organization to the leadership’s true ambitions.

Julia: If we’re talking about the intrinsic value of OKRs, what comes before anything is the discipline that they instill in us as co-CEOs.

What’s neat about OKRs is that they formalize reflection. At least once each quarter, they make contributors step back into a quiet place and consider how their decisions align with the company. People start thinking in the macro.

The better way is to train people to think like leaders from the start, when their departments have a staff of one.

OKRs take out the ambiguity.

“I’m inspired because I finally know what we’re trying to do.”

Team sports don’t work unless the whole team plays together.

At a start-up, you can get lost in tactical minutiae—especially in my department, where we wear so many hats. That’s dangerous, because you’re swimming in tumultuous seas and it’s easy to lose sight of land. But those OKR meditations helped me reset my compass: How do I contribute to the scheme of things? Then it’s not just another report or campaign or field event. It connects to something bigger and more meaningful.

Chiefs of large companies are turning to OKRs and CFRs as tools for culture change.

By aligning teams to work toward a handful of common objectives, then uniting them through lightweight, goal-oriented communications, OKRs and CFRs create transparency and accountability, the tent poles for sustained high performance.

Google study of 180 teams, standout performance correlated to affirmative responses to these five questions: 1. Structure and clarity: Are goals, roles, and execution plans on our team clear? 2. Psychological safety: Can we take risks on this team without feeling insecure or embarrassed? 3. Meaning of work: Are we working on something that is personally important for each of us? 4. Dependability: Can we count on each other to do high-quality work on time? 5. Impact of work: Do we fundamentally believe that the work we’re doing matters?

Catalysts, defined as “actions that support work,” sound much like OKRs: “They include setting clear goals, allowing autonomy, providing sufficient resources and time, helping with the work, openly learning from problems and successes, and allowing a free exchange of ideas.” Nourishers—“acts of interpersonal support”—bear a striking resemblance to CFRs: “respect and recognition, encouragement, emotional comfort, and opportunities for affiliation.”

OKRs lend us purpose and clarity as we plunge into the new. CFRs supply the energy we need for the journey.

Coursera rolled up its team-level objectives to top-line strategic objectives, which in turn rolled up to five core values: • Students first. Engage and increase value to students; extend reach to new students. • Great partners. Be a great partner to universities. • Think big and advance pedagogy. Develop an innovative, world-class education platform. • Care for teammates and be human, be humble. Build a strong, healthy organization. • Do good, do well. Experiment and develop a sustainable business model.

companies that “out-behave” their competition will also outperform them. He identified a value-driven model, the “self-governing organization,” a place where long-term legacy trumps the next quarter’s ROI. These organizations don’t merely engage their workers. They inspire them. They replace rules with shared principles; carrots and sticks are supplanted by a common sense of purpose. They are built around trust, which enables risk taking, which spurs innovation, which drives performance and productivity.

“What we choose to measure is a window into our values, and into what we value,” Dov says.

“I don’t ask, ‘Do you feel your company is honest with you?’ I look at information flows. Does the company hoard information, does it mete it out on a need-to-know basis, or is it flowing freely? If you go around your boss and talk to somebody more senior, are you punished or celebrated?”

Given the chance, OKRs and CFRs will build top-down alignment, team-first networking, and bottom-up autonomy and engagement—the pillars of any vibrant, value-driven culture.