5min books review #4

John Doerr: Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs

Value for money

6/10

Ebook or Bookshelf?

This is more suited to reading as an ebook, don’t want it to take up precious bookshelf real estate.

Year, Price, Pages, Cover design

2018 by Portfolio/Penguin; Euro 24,20; 246 pages (306 pages with dedication, resources, notes and index), Hardcover

Jacket design by Karl Spurzem, Book design by Amy Hill. Very nice jacket and book design. Good paper quality and reading experience (However, I would expect a better quality of paper, compared to the amazing jacket).

5 sentences about the book

The book consists of two parts. First part describes OKRs and values such: focus, alignment, tracking and stretching — that accelerate OKRs. The second part pointed out the importance of culture in modern companies and CFRs (Conversation, Feedback, Recognition) which, together with OKRs, create new continuous performance management and reinforces HR.

From a narrative point of view, this book also consists of two parts. Theoretical writing is beautifully completed by stories with examples from real life, written by protagonists like Bill Gates (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), Sundar Pichai (Chrome), Susan Wojcicki (YouTube) and many others. I especially enjoyed Doerr’s story about the beginning of the OKRs at Intel and his mentor Andy Grove. The book begins with another fantastic story about the early days at Google, where Doerr rotated among the first investors.

In the end, OKRs have roots in 20th-century mentality. Intel’s story Operation Crush is scary reading about the company that beat its competition not by innovation but by marketing (creating a new narrative). It makes more sense now to understand the behaviour of big tech companies in the 21st century that adapted OKRs (more below).

What did I learn?

• I have finally understood what OKRs are and what are the powers that drive them (focus, alignment, tracking and stretching). I’ve learned to define the objective and key results and think about them in the context of my work/my life.
• Except for basic rules, there are at least these reminders I have to keep in mind: 1. KRs must describe outcomes, not activities (257); 2. We must not forget to ask “What’s in this for me” when we want to make OKRs real for individuals; 3. Define a few OKRs that promise a real value, make it stretch but realistic; 4. OKRs are not written in stone — reformulate or delete them if they are not helping anymore.
• I found a connection between OKRs and CFRs super useful, it could be especially handy for line managers. I’ve made many notes and I intend to put them into practice.
• Google’s OKR Playbook (255) — internal Google’s document for employees describing how to set, track and read/interpret OKRs.
• I understood the root cause of unethical behaviour of the big tech companies towards their users and society (more below).

What was missing?

TL, DR: What kind of products can be created in an organization driven by OKRs and CFR without asking about ethical issues? Doerr didn’t address the ethical risk (Should we build it at all?) in OKRs conception that has a direct impact on companies’ culture of big tech organizations. Yes, big tech delivered a lot of obvious values for end users but at the same time, they aggressively dominated the market so competition became impossible (and end-users lost more than they gained). Even worse, big techs are not able to steer their platforms anymore, and their products are becoming a weapon in the fight to weaken democracy in the western world.

• Working at Google was considered a dream job twenty years ago. Now, working in the 21st century big tech is like working in the 20-century tobacco company. In other words, I cannot imagine how someone can be proud to be a Google/Facebook/Amazon/Apple employee anymore. Today big techs are considered as predators: these companies don’t just run services — they own the internet’s utilities; they use that commanding position unfairly and at the expense of others.

The next thing is the social dimension. These companies do not take enough responsibility for their platforms and their impact on society: “The result is less innovation, fewer choices for consumers, and a weakened democracy.” (Guardian)

If the author is not willing to speak about this topic because it is not in the context of his book, then, the best he could do was not to open culture topic while talking about Google.

• OKRs do not address ethical risk: “Just because we have the technology to build something, and even if it otherwise works to accomplish the specific business objective, this does not necessary mean that we should build it. More commonly, the issue is that our technology and design skills are such that we might come up with a solution that meets our business objectives (for example, around engagement, growth, or monetization) but can end up with a side effect of cousin harm to users or the environment.” (Marty Cagan, Inspired, 2018, 169)

How is it possible that the author talks about OKRs and forget about the ethical side of reality? Susan Wojcicki (Google, YouTube) writes: “Judging from our experience at Google, I’d say that OKRs are especially useful for young companies just starting to build their culture” It is evident that ethical aspect that is missing in OKRs conception could also have an impact on culture. This could be a reason why in Google and the rest of the big tech companies they are blind ethic wise while doing the business.

Favourite quotes:

“An OBJECTIVE, I explained, is simply WHAT is to be achieved, no more and no less. By definition, objectives are significant, concrete, action-oriented, and (ideally) inspirational. When properly designed and deployed, they’re vaccine against fuzzy thinking — and fuzzy execution. KEY RESULTS benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. Effective KRs are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic. Most of all, they are measurable and verifiable. You either meet a key result’s requirements or you don’t; there is no grey area, no room for doubt.” 7

“OKRs surface your primary goals. They channel efforts and coordination. They link diverse operations, lending purpose and unity to the entire organization” 8

“OKRs are Swiss Army knives, suited to any environment” 12

“At medium-size, rapidly scaling organizations, OKRs are a shared language for execution. They clarify expectations: What do we need to get done (and fast), and who’s working on it? They keep employees aligned, vertically and horizontally.“ 12

“OKRs were constant reminders of what our teams needed to be doing. They told us precisely what we were achieving — or not.” 28

(About Andy Grove) “He had an amazing ability to reach into your chest and grab your heart, pull it out, and hold it in his hands in front of you” 32

“Measuring what matter begins with the question: What is most important for the next three (or six, or twelve) months? (…) What are our main priorities for the coming period? Where should people concentrate their efforts?” 47

“Leaders must get across the why as well as the what. Their people need more than milestones for motivation. They are thirsting for meaning, to understand how their goals relate to the mission.” 50

“Meritocracy flourishes in sunlight. When people write down ‘This is what I am working in’, it’s easier to see where the best ideas are coming from” 78

“One underrated virtue of OKRs is that they can be tracked — and then revised or adapted as circumstances dictate” 113

“Aspirational goals draw on every OKR superpower. Focus and commitment are a must for targeting goals a real difference. Only a transparent, collaborative, aligned, and connected organization can achieve so far beyond the norm, And without quantifiable tracking, how you know when you’ve reached that amazing stretch objective.” 135

“If Andy Grove is the patron saint of aspirational OKRs, Larry Pageis their latter-day high priest.” 138

“Stretch goals are invigorating. By committing to radical, qualitative improvement, and establish organization can renew its sense of urgency and reap tremendous dividends” (Susan Wojcicki, 156)

“But goals cannot be attained in a vacuum. Like sound waves, they require a medium. For OKRs and CFRs, the medium is an organization’s culture, the living expression of its most cherished values and beliefs.” 212

“In the high-stakes arena of culture change, OKRs lend us purpose and clarity as we plunge into new. CFRs supply the energy we need for the journey” 216

“As OKRs build goal muscle, CFRs make those sinews more flexible and responsive. Pulsing gauges the organization’s real-time health — body and soul, work and culture.” 217