OKR Driven Development

What is an OKR and how to use it during the product development process to ensure strategic alignment and product validation?

Overview of PM Excellence Guild

A place to exchange knowledge and standardize best practices with the relevant product management excellence practices. Focusing on building digital products/platforms/services. Through these sessions, members will be able to:

1. Share or gain information/knowledge related to product management excellence 
2. Ask questions related to product management excellence 
3. Share stories, perspectives, challenges, insights, and best practices with each other 
4. Have the opportunity to upskill your competencies to set you up for success as a product manager and put yourself in a better future position not only to get promoted but also to grow your scope and impact as a PM

You can find the full charter here: https://tinyurl.com/pm-guild-charter

Why should we use OKRs?

• OKRs are a collaborative goal-setting tool used by teams and individuals to set challenging, ambitious goals with measurable results
• OKRs are how you track progress, create alignment, and encourage engagement around measurable goals.

Desirable

• Transparent collaboration
• Shared goals
• Clarity of success (or failure)

What is an OKR

Objective : Description of the desired end-goal

Key results : Measurable results that when achieved, will lead to realizing the end-objective

Initiatives : Projects and tasks to achieve your results

Case study : Dropbox

• In 2013, rolled out OKRs for the first time across the entire GBO and EPD organization (of 15+ functions and 800+ employees)
• Driven by the CEO downwards
  (CEO > CEO staff (one downs) > teams (leader) > individuals) 
• Implemented both Team (Leader, Function) and Personal OKRs
• Was a 6 to 8 week process to draft OKRs for 6 month period
• Afterwards, had monthly OKR updates to review and publish progress on key results and key initiatives across the company
• Aimed to achieve 70-80% of OKRs

Case study : Gojek

• In 2017/18, rolled out OKRs for the first time across the entire company (1000+ employees)
• Driven by the CEO downwards *not in the first iteration
  (CEO > Heads of Products > sub cross-functional teams)
• Was a 8+ week process to draft OKRs for 6 month period
• Afterwards, had monthly OKR updates to review and publish progress on key results and key initiatives across the company
• Areas of improvement identified from first round: did not start with CEO okrs (was all bottoms up); not enough collaboration between teams; dependencies that were not identified & resolved in advance; created silo-es due to competing priorities

How should we implement OKRs?

• OKRs represent a culture change and require buy-in and commitment from the leadership
• OKRs are most successful when implemented across an entire organization or division; it’s about breaking silos and increasing collaboration between teams with shared goals
• Would include list of key initiatives that will be prioritized alongside the OKRs
• Setting OKRs can be a long, complex process. Make sure there is a clear accountable team to drive this process (timeline, documents, review sessions, etc.)
• Once set, make sure there is reliable and transparent end-to-end process that includes follow-up monitoring and retrospectives (public dashboards, monthly company reports/reviews, etc.)

What can PMs contribute to driving OKR-driven development?

First: Educate yourself about OKRs. Would recommend to start with reading Measure What Matters by John Doerr.

Then: Advocate for an OKR culture in your organization (talk to your leaders, tell them your why, find your fellow believers, volunteer and commit to helping them)

Finally: If you are ready to set OKRs for your product then:

1. Educate your team about OKRs (tell them the why; sell them the value prop)
2. Scope and set up a process for drafting OKRs across the team (remember: end to end).
3. Make sure your product has Objectives that align with the overall company goals and/or vision.
4. Make sure you have data-driven insights to justify that the metric you set as the key result is the right metric that will achieve the desired objective and that the metric goal is aspirational but within reach.