OKR Pitfalls and Boons
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OKR Pitfalls and Boons
In 2009, Harvard Business School published a paper titled Goals Gone Wild. Using a series of examples, it explained “the destructive side of over-pursuing goals”: the Ford Pinto’s exploding gas tank, Sears Auto Centers’ rampant overcharging, Enron’s wildly inflated sales targets, and the 1996 Mount Everest disaster that killed eight people. The authors warn that goals are “a prescription drug that must be handled with care and monitored closely.” They even state: “Because of excessive focus, unethical behavior, greater risk taking and decreased cooperation and intrinsic motivation, goals create systematic problems inside organizations.” The downsides of goal-setting may cancel out the benefits—that was the thesis.
Reading “Measure What Matters”
I practiced OKRs for three years at my previous company; coincidentally my current company is embracing OKRs as well, and our boss recommended this book Measure What Matters.
It took me two weeks to finish it off and on. Below are some brief, purely subjective impressions before I’ve thought them through.
OKR, originally “Objectives and Key Results,” translates literally to objectives and key results.
Under Google’s OKR model, objectives break into two types: committed objectives and aspirational objectives. Each type is assessed differently. Thoughtful wording of objectives matters; you can refer to the last-chapter appendix Google Internal OKR Template or this link.
Key results also require careful crafting. Think of a key result as a milestone; every advance moves you toward the nearest milestone, ultimately reaching the objective. Each milestone should be quantifiable so you can tell whether you’ve met it and analyze any gaps.
Because key results still advise using numbers, how do they differ from KPIs? KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator. Clearly KPIs have no explicit objective.
When an organization blindly issues numerical targets while ignoring objectives, many cases show real harm; the book cites several.
Beyond explaining and “selling” OKRs, another important late-chapter tool is continuous performance management, accomplished via CFR—Conversations, Feedback, Recognition—i.e., conversation, feedback, recognition.
The book mainly describes managers holding one-on-ones, gathering feedback, and recognizing employees’ efforts. While it sounds pleasant, real contexts are riddled with partial knowledge, misunderstandings, and self-importance. The authors therefore advocate “more” conversations, without specifying what “more” means. How to prevent “conversation” from becoming “pressure,” “feedback” from degenerating into “complaints,” or “recognition” from mutating into “gaslighting” requires both parties to possess communication skills.
The second half of the book treats continuous performance management, which on the surface seems even closer to traditional performance management. Yet the book repeatedly stresses that OKR completion should never be tied to compensation—otherwise the numbers go stale and we retrace the KPI path that hurts companies.
After practicing OKRs, what metrics do influence pay? The book offers no answer. My own inference: since OKRs add the objective dimension to performance, perhaps the closer the objective aligns with overall company interests, the more it helps personal advancement. Therefore when setting objectives, consider company benefits and frame them to maximize those benefits; avoid objectives that serve only personal interests—such as earning a certificate, getting fitter, or work–life balance. Preposterous as it sounds, I’ve seen many folks pick the wrong path.
Brutal performance management hurts companies—a predictable outcome. What puzzles me is why so many firms clung to KPIs for years and what their current shape is. Many decisions don’t withstand close scrutiny; with a few logical minds talking openly, better choices emerge more often.
Summary
By my usual standard, examples should clarify ideas, not prove them—at most they can dis-prove a point.
This book has flaws:
- It cites cases of KPI failures but cannot show KPI is worthless, nor that replacing KPI with OKR guarantees success.
- To prove OKR works, it lists selective correct moves by successful companies; yet plenty of OKR-using companies still fail. If failures are attributed to “half-hearted practice,” OKR becomes mere mysticism.
- Corporate success hinges on many factors—financial health, employee performance, customer satisfaction, client support—no single element is decisive.
- The book makes assertions without solid proof; isolated cases, successful or not, prove little, making it not especially rigorous.
Although the book isn’t rigorous, I still gained something—perhaps ideas I already held: collaborators need more conversation, transparency as a cultural norm helps pull everyone together, thereby drawing the “human harmony” card.