Max Pamies i del Campo's Key Ideas from Measure What Matters
by John Doerr

The father of OKRs is Andy Grove, who implemented them in Intel, taking the company to the top of their sector.

OKRs consists of four superpowers, which will be discussed in more detail in the following sections:

1. Focus and Commit to Priorities
2. Align and Connect for Teamwork
3. Track for Accountability
4. Stretch for Amazing

What is most important for the next three (or six, or twelve) months? That's what focus is all about.

The best OKR cadence is the one that fits the context and culture of your business.

Objectives are the stuff of inspiration and far horizons. Key results are more earth-bound and metric-driven.

Pair Key Results to Quantity & Quality to measure both effect and counter-effect.

Each Objective requires 3 to 5 Key Results to perform correctly.

As S. Sandberg says: "Done is better than perfect."

Summing up, priorization is key for management.

OKRs give transparency and transparency seeds collaboration. They are the vehicle of choice for vertical alignment.

Fulfilling KRs = Achieving Objective.

Adverse effects of top-down OKRs:

1. Loss of agility
2. Lack of flexibility
3. Marginalized contributors
4. One-dimensional linkages

Solution: bottom-up OKRs!

"People who choose their destination will own a deeper awareness of what it takes to get there."

When leaders are attuned to the fluctuating needs of both the company and its employees, a mix of top-down and bottom-up OKRs is often optimal: "Connected companies are quicker companies."

OKRs can be tracked and then be revised and adapted.

Its life cycle consists of three phases: 

1. Setup: process of OKRs creation.
2. Tracking: "The single greatest motivator is making progress in one's work." While tracking OKRs you can either continue, update, start or stop.
3. Wrap-up: consists of objective scoring, subjective self-assessment and reflection.

Our goals are servants to our purpose, not the other way around.

OKRs push us far beyond our comfort zones. They lead us to achievements on the border between abilities and dreams.

Distinguish between:

• Committed OKRs: goals that must be attained 100 percent.
• Aspirational OKRs: and those that are stretching for a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

Create an environment where individuals are free to fail without judgment. Replace incremental OKRs with exponential ones to reach 10x growth.

Design stretch OKRs to fit the organization's culture. A company's optimal "stretch" may vary over time, depending on the operating needs of the coming cycle.

CFRs stands for Conversation, Feedback & Recognition. They give OKRs their human voice.

By having regular conversations with your employees, you gain context for goal-analysis. Conversation consists of:

• Goal setting and reflection
• Two-way coaching
• Career growth
• Lightweight performance reviews

Feedback is key nowadays, by giving positive feedback you directly fulfill the need of empowerment of your employees and help them aim higher.

Closely related to Feedback, we find Recognition, which can be implemented through:

• Peer-to-peer recognition, by this culture of gratitude is born.
• Establishing clear criteria, recognize people for actions and results.
• Sharing recognition stories, like newsletters or company blogs.
• Frequent and attainable recognition, hailing smaller accomplishments too.
• Tying recognition to company goals and strategies, any organizational priority can be supported by a timely shout-out.

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast [...], it's what makes meaning of work." Any organization peak performance is the product of collaboration and accountability.

"Culture is a set of value and beliefs, as well as familiarity with the way things are done and should be done in a company. The point is that a strong and positive corporate culture is absolutely essential."

High-motivation cultures rely on a mix of two elements:

• Catalysts, actions that support work.
• Nourishers, acts of interpersonal support.

Companies that "out-behave" their competition will also outperform them.