Year read: 2015
How strongly I recommend it: 7/10
(See my list of books I've read, for more.)Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.
You have to create processes to work on goals without dropping everything to coldness for every urgent task.
Learnings more important than results address the “Why”.
Use your OKRs to prioritize and schedule your week. “What are the one or two most important things I can do in the next week (outside the whirlwind) that will have the biggest impact on the scoreboard?”
FOCUS. Focus on one (or two goals) that will make a difference. Don’t overcrowd your plate.
[ > goals **=** < results ]
Saying ‘Yes’ once is saying ‘No’ to many other things.
Table of Contents
4 Disciplines
- The Goal – Careful focus on a clear lag measure.
- Strategy to accomplish goal – Acting on the high-leverage lead measures.
- Scoreboard – Regular scorekeeping and monitoring of the lead and lag measures.
- Accountability – The cadence of accountability.
Wildly Important Goal (WIG) – the goal that can make all the difference. What is the one area where change would have the greatest impact?
Lag Measure
|— Lead Measure
|— Lead Measure
Lag measure example: Decrease total badly weight from 190lbs to 175lbs by May 30.
Lead measure example: Reduce calories consumed. Increase calories burned.
4 Rules
Rule #1: No team focuses on more than two WIGs at the same time.
Rule #2: The battles you choose must win the war.
Rule #3: Senior leaders can veto, but not dictate.
* The team lead needs to guide discussion and not run over the rest of the team.
Rule #4: All WIGs must have a finish line in the form of from X to Y by when.
Lead vs Lag Measures
Lag measure – measures the goal
Lead measure – predictive (measures something that leads to the goal) and influenceable (something we can influence)
Results drive engagement.
KEEP SCORE!
- The scoreboard is accessible to the entire team.
- Show lag and lead measures.
- Easily tell who is winning.
Accountability is important. Make the OKRs public internally. Teams should be able to access and view other team members’ OKRs. Maybe they can help brainstorm experiments to run or provide some insight into what may help the team reach its goals.
OKRs are not meant to measure employee output. However, if an employee continues to miss OKRs significantly then you need to dig into why he/she continues to miss.
Work to move the scoreboard each and every week.
The goal is not 1.0 but 0.7. A result of 1.0 means your Objective was not hard enough.
Quotes
- “To achieve a goal you have never achieved before, you must start doing things you have never done before.” – authors
- “…looking at financial data (lag measures) is the equivalent of driving a car by looking in the rearview mirror.” – W. Edwards Deming