Today a new hero has been forged in my mind. John Doerr - with a name like that, how couldn’t he be a hero of mine?
Not only John has the most impressive CV of VC-land but also he’s the one guy who opened my eyes to the true value of OKRs
Previously the only ‘reputable’ read abut OKRs (oh yeah, this post will feature the acronym several times, get used to it) was Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke
Quite frankly I didn’t get much out of Christina’s book. It lacked valuable context on where do OKRs come from and why are they shaped the way they are today
John’s book it’s very different, it gives historical context, several practical applications in real world scenarios, goes beyond OKRs itself into feedback loops, it’s a full stack guide. I love it
Since it came out I bought 6 copies, I keep giving it away. It’s that good
Main takeaways
Objectives are a tool to enforce focus (yeah I know, it was all in Christina’s title)
Key results are NOT a task list
If it took you less than a day to come up with your objective you are not ambitious enough
If you already have KRs before you’ve identified the objective you are lying to yourself
OKRs are a medium to long haul managment device
There is no dogmatic way of doing it
👋🏼fabri here, former founder and consultant
working with startups, helping them grow
