(http://gmpg.org/xfn/11) OKRs for Evil and Good – Jessitron (//secure.gravatar.com) (//stats.wp.com) (//fonts-api.wp.com) (//widgets.wp.com) (//jetpack.wordpress.com) (//s0.wp.com) (//public-api.wordpress.com) (//0.gravatar.com) (//1.gravatar.com) (//2.gravatar.com) (//i0.wp.com) (//c0.wp.com) (Jessitron » Feed) (https://jessitron.com/feed/) (Jessitron » Comments Feed) (https://jessitron.com/comments/feed/) (//fonts-api.wp.com/css?family=Montserrat:100,100italic,200,200italic,300,300italic,regular,italic,500,500italic,600,600italic,700,700italic,800,800italic,900,900italic) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/gutenberg/build/block-library/style.css?ver=19.8.0) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/gutenberg/build/block-library/theme.css?ver=19.8.0) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/layout-grid/style.css?ver=1643201242) (https://c0.wp.com/c/6.7.1/wp-includes/js/mediaelement/mediaelementplayer-legacy.min.css) (https://c0.wp.com/c/6.7.1/wp-includes/js/mediaelement/wp-mediaelement.min.css) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/coblocks/dist/style-coblocks-1.css?ver=3.1.14) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/coblocks/dist/style-coblocks-extensions.css?ver=3.1.14) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/coblocks/dist/style-coblocks-animation.css?ver=2677611078ee87eb3b1c) (https://c0.wp.com/c/6.7.1/wp-includes/css/dashicons.min.css) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/gutenberg/build/components/style.css?ver=19.8.0) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/coblocks/includes/Dependencies/GoDaddy/Styles/build/latest.css?ver=2.0.2) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/themes/lalita/css/unsemantic-grid.min.css?ver=1.4.3) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/themes/lalita/style.min.css?ver=1.4.3) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/themes/lalita/css/mobile.min.css?ver=1.4.3) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/themes/pushan/style.css?ver=1700791441) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/themes/lalita/css/font-awesome.min.css?ver=5.1) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/comments/subscription-modal-on-comment/subscription-modal.css?ver=14.2-a.3) (https://fonts-api.wp.com/css?family=Open+Sans%3A300italic%2C400italic%2C600italic%2C300%2C400%2C600&subset=latin%2Clatin-ext&display=fallback&ver=6.7.1) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/likes/style.css?ver=14.2-a.3) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/sharedaddy/sharing.css?ver=14.2-a.3) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/_inc/social-logos/social-logos.min.css?ver=14.2-a.3) (https://jessitron.com/wp-json/) (JSON) (https://jessitron.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/7400) (RSD) (https://jessitron.com/xmlrpc.php?rsd) (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/) (https://wp.me/paZfd2-1Vm) (oEmbed (JSON)) (https://jessitron.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjessitron.com%2F2024%2F12%2F22%2Fokrs-for-evil-and-good%2F) (oEmbed (XML)) (https://jessitron.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjessitron.com%2F2024%2F12%2F22%2Fokrs-for-evil-and-good%2F&format=xml) (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/amp/) (https://i0.wp.com/jessitron.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-cropped-logo-by-linda-2.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1) (https://i0.wp.com/jessitron.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-cropped-logo-by-linda-2.png?fit=192%2C192&ssl=1) (https://i0.wp.com/jessitron.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-cropped-logo-by-linda-2.png?fit=180%2C180&ssl=1)  (Skip to content) Skip to content (https://jessitron.com/) Jessitron    Search for: (Search …) () (Search for:)  (Search)  (Search) Search    Menu  (/blog) Blog  (http://twitter.com/jessitron) Twitter  (http://support.jessitron.com) Patreon  (https://jessitron.com/category/talk/) Talks  (http://newsletter.jessitron.com) Newsletter  (Search) Search          (bees in apple butter)  OKRs for Evil and Good (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/) (8:51 pm) December 22, 2024 December 22, 2024   by (https://jessitron.com/author/jessitron/) (View all posts by jessitron) jessitron      My work does not reduce to measurable outcomes. Much of what I accomplish as an engineer and as a developer advocate amounts to creating conditions that make it more likely for the company to succeed. I resist and resent most metrics, yet I don’t mind OKRs the way Honeycomb does them. How not to OKR: manage to them OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) were popularized by Google, and many companies use them for evil. If meeting the numbers in the Key Results determines whether we get a raise or get fired, then we skip the Objective and completely ignore externalities (effects on the world outside the system or beyond the timeframe). OKRs consist of an Objective in words: what are we trying to accomplish? and 2-4 measurable Key Results: how will we know that we succeeded? entirely hypothetical example: Objective:  Increase purchases through Alexa’s voice interface   Key Result: 5% fewer people report that Alexa heard the wrong item  Key Result: 0.5s faster response time to purchase requests  Key Result: 3% more people who ask for an item say ‘Buy it now’     OKRs are quarterly. Teams have about three OKRs for a quarter, then evaluate them at the end of those three months. Did we hit our Key Results? Did we meet the objective? Usually people stop at the first question. Asked to increase purchases from Alexa, as measured by the percent of people who say ‘Buy it now’ after asking for an item, a team might study what factors affect customers’ likelihood to say these magic words. Perhaps they notice that when Alexa says “with delivery by today,” more people say ‘Buy it now.’ Perhaps the team can decrease the response time and get more magic words by defaulting to “with delivery by today” on all items. Then after I tell Alexa ‘Buy it now,’ she says ‘Your item has an updated delivery date…’ and gets a realistic delivery estimate. Have you also noticed Alexa doing that on every single item all the time recently? It’s infuriating! It makes me hate using Alexa to purchase things. It advances the key results but not the objective. My rate of completing purchases went to zero after the third time consecutive time Alexa reneged on the delivery date. But hey, that’s someone else’s metric! I imagine the team who made this decision getting high performance ratings and a pizza party for rocking this quarter’s Key Results. And then the entire Alexa program being shut down a few years later because overall purchases have tanked. How to OKR: learn from them No small set of metrics can tell you you’re doing a good job. They’re a (https://issues.org/limits-of-data-nguyen/) limited clue. This is why I have a resistance to measuring my work. Reducing my job to numbers ignores most of the most significant parts. So why use Key Results at all? An incomplete measurement is better than no measurement, if you treat it as a clue instead of judgement. At Honeycomb, Key Results remind us to look at the world to see whether we had the effect we want. For instance, my team is Developer Relations. Our job is to tell the story of Honeycomb’s value to engineers. Right now, we don’t have enough videos out there to show what it’s like using our product. People hear about us, they come looking for an explainer, and they don’t find a current one on YouTube. Objective:  People find compelling examples of using Honeycomb on our YouTube channel.   Key Result: We publish 6 new videos this quarter.  Key Result: People watch 2000 minutes of these videos.  Key Result: Our channel has 5% more subscribers.     These key results are not equivalent to meeting the objective. Instead, they are three observable things that we think will be true if we do meet the objective. Most importantly, they are three conversations we want to have. In this example, one key result is output-based: publish 6 videos. Barring technical difficulties, my team has direct control over whether this happens. That makes it motivating. However, this one is the farthest from representing the objective. The second KR, “People watch 2000 minutes of these videos,” is a made-up number. I don’t know whether that number is low or high. I do know that I care how much time people spend watching the video. This KR exists to get us to talk about the performance of the videos. The number doesn’t matter; the measurement does. We will notice which videos keep attention, and guide our future choices. More engagement is a clue that we might be meeting our objective. The third KR, “5% more subscribers,” is a number we have little control over. I don’t know whether it’s realistic, and that doesn’t matter. It matters that we look at how many subscribers we have, we look at how that is growing, and we wonder about it together. The key results remind us to look at the world as it is, and compare it to our expectations. At the beginning of the quarter I record a baseline for the number of subscribers; I hadn’t looked at that number before, so the KR is useful already. At the end of the quarter, it may not be 2000 minutes of viewing, or it may be way more. Either way, I notice what it is. I am more informed for future expectations, and my team has a conversation about how to make our future videos more engaging. We are able to look thoughtfully at the Key Results, to use them as clues without gaming them, because nobody’s performance review is based on them. Information, not judgement. Nobody at Honeycomb pretends that our work reduces to a number, so we don’t have to warp our systems to stretch the numbers over someone’s threshold. We never do work that influences the Key Result but not the objective. OKRs give us a few directions (of the many valid ones) to pull toward in a quarter, and key results are markers along the way. Within the team and across the teams, they help us keep in touch with each other and with the world. Share this: (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/?share=twitter&nb=1) (Click to share on Twitter) Twitter   (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/?share=linkedin&nb=1) (Click to share on LinkedIn) LinkedIn   (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/?share=reddit&nb=1) (Click to share on Reddit) Reddit   (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/?share=pocket&nb=1) (Click to share on Pocket) Pocket   (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/?share=facebook&nb=1) (Click to share on Facebook) Facebook         Categories  (https://jessitron.com/category/business-of-software/) business of software  Tags  (https://jessitron.com/tag/business/) business , (https://jessitron.com/tag/honeycomb/) honeycomb , (https://jessitron.com/tag/okr/) okr  Post navigation (Previous) (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/15/productivity-v-impact/) Productivity v Impact         Search for: (Search …) () (Search for:)  (Search)   popular (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/) (OKRs for Evil and Good) (OKRs for Evil and Good)  (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/22/okrs-for-evil-and-good/) (OKRs for Evil and Good) OKRs for Evil and Good   (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/15/productivity-v-impact/) (Productivity v Impact) (Productivity v Impact)  (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/15/productivity-v-impact/) (Productivity v Impact) Productivity v Impact   (https://jessitron.com/2024/11/16/who-turns-software-into-money-gtm/) (Who turns software into money? GTM) (Who turns software into money? GTM)  (https://jessitron.com/2024/11/16/who-turns-software-into-money-gtm/) (Who turns software into money? GTM) Who turns software into money? GTM   (https://jessitron.com/2024/11/24/communication-structures-in-a-growing-organization/) (Communication Structures in a Growing Organization) (Communication Structures in a Growing Organization)  (https://jessitron.com/2024/11/24/communication-structures-in-a-growing-organization/) (Communication Structures in a Growing Organization) Communication Structures in a Growing Organization   (https://jessitron.com/2020/04/23/powershell-equivalent-of-find/) (PowerShell equivalent of find) (PowerShell equivalent of find)  (https://jessitron.com/2020/04/23/powershell-equivalent-of-find/) (PowerShell equivalent of find) PowerShell equivalent of find     meta (https://jessitron.com/wp-login.php) Log in  (https://jessitron.com/feed/) Entries feed  (https://jessitron.com/comments/feed/) Comments feed  (https://wordpress.org/) WordPress.org        (/blog) Blog  (http://twitter.com/jessitron) Twitter  (http://support.jessitron.com) Patreon  (https://jessitron.com/category/talk/) Talks  (http://newsletter.jessitron.com) Newsletter      Tags (https://jessitron.com/tag/abstraction/) abstraction (https://jessitron.com/tag/agile/) agile (https://jessitron.com/tag/architecture/) architecture (https://jessitron.com/tag/automation/) automation (https://jessitron.com/tag/change/) change (https://jessitron.com/tag/clojure/) clojure (https://jessitron.com/tag/complexity/) complexity (https://jessitron.com/tag/concurrency/) concurrency (https://jessitron.com/tag/design/) design (https://jessitron.com/tag/devops/) DevOps (https://jessitron.com/tag/distributed-systems/) distributed systems (https://jessitron.com/tag/docker/) Docker (https://jessitron.com/tag/engineering/) Engineering (https://jessitron.com/tag/functional/) functional (https://jessitron.com/tag/functionalprinciples/) functionalPrinciples (https://jessitron.com/tag/generativity/) Generativity (https://jessitron.com/tag/git/) git (https://jessitron.com/tag/honeycomb/) honeycomb (https://jessitron.com/tag/java/) Java (https://jessitron.com/tag/javascript/) javascript (https://jessitron.com/tag/learning/) learning (https://jessitron.com/tag/observability/) observability (https://jessitron.com/tag/philosophy/) philosophy (https://jessitron.com/tag/property-based-testing/) property-based testing (https://jessitron.com/tag/reference/) reference (https://jessitron.com/tag/ruby/) ruby (https://jessitron.com/tag/scala/) scala (https://jessitron.com/tag/science/) science (https://jessitron.com/tag/software-development/) Software Development (https://jessitron.com/tag/symmathesy/) symmathesy (https://jessitron.com/tag/systems/) systems (https://jessitron.com/tag/systems-thinking/) Systems Thinking (https://jessitron.com/tag/teams/) teams (https://jessitron.com/tag/testing/) testing (https://jessitron.com/tag/thinkingfunctionally/) thinkingFunctionally (https://jessitron.com/tag/tistil/) tistil (https://jessitron.com/tag/typescript/) typescript (https://jessitron.com/tag/web-development/) Web Development (https://jessitron.com/tag/wit/) wit (https://jessitron.com/tag/yakshaving/) Yak Shaving    Archives Archives () Select Month (https://jessitron.com/2024/12/) December 2024  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2024/11/) November 2024  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2024/09/) September 2024  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2024/08/) August 2024  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2024/06/) June 2024  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2024/05/) May 2024  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2024/03/) March 2024  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2024/01/) January 2024  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2023/12/) December 2023  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2023/11/) November 2023  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2023/10/) October 2023  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2023/09/) September 2023  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2023/07/) July 2023  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2023/06/) June 2023  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2023/05/) May 2023  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2023/04/) April 2023  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2023/03/) March 2023  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2023/02/) February 2023  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2023/01/) January 2023  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2022/12/) December 2022  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2022/11/) November 2022  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2022/10/) October 2022  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2022/09/) September 2022  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2022/08/) August 2022  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2022/06/) June 2022  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2022/04/) April 2022  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2022/02/) February 2022  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2022/01/) January 2022  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2021/12/) December 2021  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2021/11/) November 2021  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2021/09/) September 2021  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2021/08/) August 2021  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2021/07/) July 2021  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2021/06/) June 2021  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2021/05/) May 2021  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2021/04/) April 2021  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2021/03/) March 2021  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2021/02/) February 2021  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2021/01/) January 2021  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2020/12/) December 2020  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2020/11/) November 2020  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2020/10/) October 2020  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2020/09/) September 2020  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2020/08/) August 2020  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2020/07/) July 2020  (11) (https://jessitron.com/2020/06/) June 2020  (10) (https://jessitron.com/2020/05/) May 2020  (8) (https://jessitron.com/2020/04/) April 2020  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2020/03/) March 2020  (8) (https://jessitron.com/2020/02/) February 2020  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2020/01/) January 2020  (13) (https://jessitron.com/2019/12/) December 2019  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2019/11/) November 2019  (10) (https://jessitron.com/2019/10/) October 2019  (8) (https://jessitron.com/2019/09/) September 2019  (14) (https://jessitron.com/2019/08/) August 2019  (10) (https://jessitron.com/2019/07/) July 2019  (12) (https://jessitron.com/2019/06/) June 2019  (22) (https://jessitron.com/2019/05/) May 2019  (15) (https://jessitron.com/2019/03/) March 2019  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2018/12/) December 2018  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2018/11/) November 2018  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2018/10/) October 2018  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2018/09/) September 2018  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2018/08/) August 2018  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2018/07/) July 2018  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2018/05/) May 2018  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2018/04/) April 2018  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2018/03/) March 2018  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2018/01/) January 2018  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2017/12/) December 2017  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2017/11/) November 2017  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2017/10/) October 2017  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2017/09/) September 2017  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2017/07/) July 2017  (13) (https://jessitron.com/2017/06/) June 2017  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2017/05/) May 2017  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2017/04/) April 2017  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2017/03/) March 2017  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2017/02/) February 2017  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2017/01/) January 2017  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2016/12/) December 2016  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2016/11/) November 2016  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2016/09/) September 2016  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2016/08/) August 2016  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2016/05/) May 2016  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2016/04/) April 2016  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2016/03/) March 2016  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2015/12/) December 2015  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2015/11/) November 2015  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2015/10/) October 2015  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2015/09/) September 2015  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2015/08/) August 2015  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2015/06/) June 2015  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2015/05/) May 2015  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2015/04/) April 2015  (10) (https://jessitron.com/2015/03/) March 2015  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2015/02/) February 2015  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2015/01/) January 2015  (8) (https://jessitron.com/2014/12/) December 2014  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2014/11/) November 2014  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2014/10/) October 2014  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2014/09/) September 2014  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2014/08/) August 2014  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2014/07/) July 2014  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2014/06/) June 2014  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2014/05/) May 2014  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2014/04/) April 2014  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2014/03/) March 2014  (10) (https://jessitron.com/2014/02/) February 2014  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2014/01/) January 2014  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2013/12/) December 2013  (1) (https://jessitron.com/2013/11/) November 2013  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2013/10/) October 2013  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2013/09/) September 2013  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2013/08/) August 2013  (11) (https://jessitron.com/2013/07/) July 2013  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2013/06/) June 2013  (3) (https://jessitron.com/2013/05/) May 2013  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2013/04/) April 2013  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2013/03/) March 2013  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2013/02/) February 2013  (2) (https://jessitron.com/2013/01/) January 2013  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2012/12/) December 2012  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2012/11/) November 2012  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2012/10/) October 2012  (15) (https://jessitron.com/2012/09/) September 2012  (20) (https://jessitron.com/2012/08/) August 2012  (11) (https://jessitron.com/2012/07/) July 2012  (18) (https://jessitron.com/2012/06/) June 2012  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2012/05/) May 2012  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2012/04/) April 2012  (6) (https://jessitron.com/2012/03/) March 2012  (9) (https://jessitron.com/2012/02/) February 2012  (7) (https://jessitron.com/2012/01/) January 2012  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2011/12/) December 2011  (4) (https://jessitron.com/2011/11/) November 2011  (5) (https://jessitron.com/2011/10/) October 2011  (9) (https://jessitron.com/2011/09/) September 2011  (7)   Search Search for: (Search …) () (Search for:)  (Search) (relevance) (DESC) (post,page)   Sort by (relevance|DESC) Relevance  (date|DESC) Newest first  (date|ASC) Oldest first           © 2024 Jessitron • Powered by (https://wpkoi.com/pushan-wpkoi-wordpress-theme/) WPKoi     (Scroll back to top) Scroll back to top     (https://twitter.com/jessitron)    (https://www.youtube.com/user/jessitronica)    (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicakerr/)    (https://twitch.tv/jessitronica)    (https://www.instagram.com/jessitronica/)        Discover more from Jessitron Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive. Continue reading      (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/modules/widgets/top-posts/style.css?ver=20141013) (https://jessitron.com/wp-content/plugins/jetpack/jetpack_vendor/automattic/jetpack-search/src/widgets/css/search-widget-frontend.css?minify=false&ver=1645029952) ()