OKR plays for Product
I don't reach to OKRs often, because most companies lack the maturity to use them. But, there is one kind of company where they make sense.
I don't reach to OKRs often, because most companies lack the maturity to use them. But, there is one kind of company where they make sense.
This play won't explain Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) - that's been done elsewhere. I highly recommend Allan Kelly's book Succeeding with OKRs in Agile if you need to learn the basics.
Context
You would like to create clarity and focus to significantly change your market position. The larger organization is interested in results, and you know this because the executive team is talking about non-financial metrics every week. (A company that is solely revenue- and deliverable- focused will not change to a results orientation just by rolling out a framework)
And critically: there must be no active HR-led OKR program in the organization (more on that at the end).
Play
There are 4 good levels at which product leaders can get leverage from OKRs:
- Company OKRs
- Quarterly OKRs for product development
- Quarterly OKRs for the team
- Long-lived OKRs for product areas
Here's how and why to use each one in small and mid-size organizations.
Company OKRs can be a great way to align with other functions, if you can avoid two traps. The first trap is when a companie tries to use OKRs to lead EVERYTHING the company does - including regular work and operational business. Instead, use OKRs to focus attention only towards the things your company needs to CHANGE. If your execs understand this, OKRs can be a fabulous tool both for annual and quarterly planning. If your product work is misaligned with sales, marketing, and customer success, a good OKR alignment activity can help dramatically.
The second trap is 'set it and forget it' annual OKRs. Often companies set OKRs because someone read a book. Then they forget to look at or talk about the results for many months.
Better to set quarterly OKRs together with at least 20-3o leaders across the company in a quarterly, all-day, onsite meeting. If the execs come in with the objectives, a strong facilitator can help the rest of the leaders propose achievable key results and assemble the cross-functional action teams to make them happen over the next 90 days. You'll end the day with motivation, excitement, and commitment of the extended leadership team.