This document discusses how using Objectives and Key Results (OKR) can help build an agile culture. OKR is an agile goal setting framework that replaces annual static planning with shorter goal setting cycles. It complements agile by helping create a results-focused culture, replacing predictability with results delivery, giving autonomy to self-organizing teams, and helping prioritize the product backlog based on key results. OKR's dual cadence of strategic and tactical goals also enables better alignment across teams.
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Laszlo Bock
VP of People Operations, Google
“Research agrees with your
intuition:
Having goals improve
performance.
Spending hours cascading
goals does not.”
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OKR: Objectives and Key Results
•OKR is an Agile goal setting framework.
When used properly, it helps expand agility.
•Created by Intel and adopted by Google in
1999.
•Used by LinkedIn, Twitter, Dropbox, GoPro
and several other companies.
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Key Results:
•Increase average weekly visits to 3.3 per
active user
•Reach a Net Promoter Score of 52%.
•Increase non paid (organic) traffic to 80%.
•Reduce revenue churn to 1%.
•Increase engagement (users that complete a
full profile) to 75%.
Objective: Delight our customers
OKR - Example
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•Goal Agility: Instead of using an annual
static planning process, OKR uses shorter
goal setting cycles (usually every quarter).
•Simplicity: In order to enable frequent goal
setting, the process is extremely simple.
OKRs are simple and easily understood.
What is unique about OKR
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•Dual Cadence: OKR understands that
strategy and tactics have two different
rhythms:
•A strategic cadence with high-level longer-
term goals for the company.
•A tactical cadence with shorter-term OKRs
for the teams.
What is unique about OKR
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•OKRs Don’t Cascade: OKR uses a market-
based approach that is simultaneously bottom-
up and top-down, creating horizontal
alignment between teams and reducing
interdependencies.
60% of the OKRs are set bottom-up, defined by
the teams and aligned with the company goals.
What is unique about OKR
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Seeking ambitious goals is a key principle in
OKR:
•Stretch Goals: Goals that are just beyond the
threshold of what seems possible and make the
team rethink the way they work.
•Separation from compensation: Decoupling
goals from salary and promotions is key so
that the team may go for hard and aspirational
goals.
What is unique about OKR
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1.OKR helps create a results-focused culture.
2.OKR enables Agile Transformation by
replacing predictability with results.
3.OKR gives autonomy to the team.
4.OKR enables self-organizing teams.
5.OKR helps prioritize the backlog.
Complementing Agile
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Agile was created as an alternative to
waterfall for managing software development
projects. As such, it is focused on managing
deliverables (user stories or features).
The Agile Manifesto itself refers to working
s o f t w a r e a n d v a l u a b l e s o f t w a r e
interchangeably. But they are not the same.
There are several methods for estimating
value in Agile, but none to track actual
business results.
From Features to Value
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For example, there is not a single event in
Scrum for tracking results.
It’s the “ship it and forget it” mindset.
OKR helps to change the mindset of the team,
creating a culture that is focused on
measuring and delivering business value.
From Features to Value
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“OKRs help Reframe the
situation from output
(features on roadmaps) to
outcome (business
results).”
Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product
Group
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One of the main barriers for Agile adoption is
the fear of losing control and predictability.
OKR helps overcome that by replacing the
perceived predictability of a Gantt chart with a
commitment to deliver pre-defined business
results.
Instead of committing to deliver X by Y date,
the team commits to iterate towards the
agreed results.
From predictability to results
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OKRs enables team autonomy by changing the
mindset.
•From: “the role of the team is to deliver the
features the customer/management wants”
•To: “the role of the team is to achieve the
success criteria as described in the Key
Results and agreed with the stakeholders.”
Enabling Autonomy
48. “If a feature idea doesn’t
speak directly to one of the
top KPI’s [Key Results] on
the product scorecard
[OKRs], it’s generally off the
list.”
Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product
Group