OKRs, where to start?

Hey, happy Monday! How are you doing?

In the note every first Monday of the month, I have decided to answer the questions that numerous are coming in from those who have decided to reserve an advance copy of the OKRs Implementation Guide by STRTGY. You can do so, too, by visiting this link.

Do you like the idea? Let me know by responding to this email with your feedback and questions.

Here is the most frequent.

OKRs, where to start?

For example, by participating in this free workshop organized in collaboration with the folks at 20tab who are planning some wonderful things for this winter. I enthusiastically agreed to share some of the best strategic planning tools we have created at STRTGY.

The Growth Machine technique, applied to OKRs, you won’t find in any book but it has been tested many times with excellent feedback here at STRTGY.

It is especially effective because it allows you to use OKRs for the purpose for which they were invented: to unlock growth.

The first step in implementing OKRs is to start with the strategy.

In fact, OKRs are the best tool for connecting strategy and execution.

Many companies, however, do not have a strategy document or if they do, it is unusable. Often it is a deck commissioned from a consulting firm paid by the pound (number of slides), if done in house it is full of incomprehensible jargon. In some the only document is a budget, budget or business plan.

It is information disconnected from reality that does not represent what it takes to be successful, let alone give the definition of success itself.

The strategy is boring. Until yesterday.

At STRTGY we strive to ensure that each tool is also fun to use as well as simple, immediately usable and easily updated.

The Growth Machine reveals in a simple diagram what the strategy for growth is.

Each gear represents a replicable successful initiative that transfers its positive effect to the next gear.

At some point the cycle closes and begins again. You will then find that in order to grow you can only focus on a handful of Outcomes fundamentals, the effect of which one on the other will build success.

OKRs will help you have the structure, discipline and motivation you need to focus on a few key priorities and measure progress.

Note to Design Nerds. The concept of the Growth Machine takes inspiration from Systemic Design, a practice that helps understand complexity by reducing it to a series of cause-and-effect events that must happen to achieve a given result.

If you conceive of growth as a series of positive effects your company has in the system in which it interacts then it is possible to describe its mechanics.

The Growth Machine is very similar to the Flywheel concept that you can find in the book by Good to Great by Jim Collins, who recently released an excerpt to accompany the book and describes its use and benefits in companies such as Amazon, Intel and many. The reading is highly recommended!

However, experience has led me to adapt some concepts to be used not by as many companies as possible, even very small ones, even to individual projects, and especially to be connected with the methodology of OKRs.

To conclude

To implement OKRs, it is necessary to have the strategy.

If there is no strategy document, the Growth Machine is the best option to bring out the strategy, codify it, and make it visible and, above all, understandable to the entire organization. Only in this way can teams subsequently contribute.

See you onSept. 8 with our friends from STOPCODING.

And if you want to learn more, you can request a preview of the book thus gaining behind-the-scenes access to exclusive bonuses, or meet us in a brief call to talk about it right away.

Always Make Progress!
Make yourself heard.