OKR Insights

Strategy meets Execution

Not every team that decides to implement OKRs will succeed in doing so. We, at Gtmhub – just as other vendors – will give advice and point out solutions, but the fact is that OKRs are not a right fit for every team. In this post we will share what we’ve learned over the years working

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Why do OKRs fail?

Start with OKRs

Originally developed at Intel and now used by companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, OKRs have a proven track record of getting results for large-scale enterprises.

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Going Big: OKRs for large businesses

It’s easy to associate OKRs with large companies rather than startups and small businesses. But, as industry guru John Doerr says in Measure What Matters: “At smaller start-ups, where people absolutely need to be pulling in the same direction, OKRs are a survival tool.”

Getting started with OKRs for small businesses Blog Visual

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Getting started with OKRs for small businesses

Company

Gtmhub raises $120 Million. The largest Series C round of funding in the OKRs software space.


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Gtmhub Raises $120 Million Series C Largest Funding Round in the OKRs Software Space

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See how you can get the power of OKRs for FREE

Gtmhub launches OKRs4All

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Inspired by Objectives and Key Results, Gtmhub's OKR software enables your enterprise to orchestrate strategy and deliver results.

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Bottom line In order to stand a greater chance of success, take a fresh look at your vision and mission before embarking on an implementation of OKRs. Only then focus on getting into a quarterly rhythm of setting and managing Objectives, measured by Key Results.


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Start with the vision

We start with the goals that we want to achieve. From these goals, we derive the objectives that when accomplished will have desired impact on our goals. We then define key results which when hit will mean we have accomplished our objective. Finally, we decide on how exactly are we going to use our resources (such as time) to accomplish our key results – and those are tasks.

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How to Set OKRs

Bottom Line: OKRs – a route to mastery, autonomy and purpose, and happy and motivated employees. Daniel Pink’s 2009 book, Drive, turned our understanding of what motivates people upside down. In this article we take a look at how OKRs can help employees achieve mastery, autonomy and purpose, and ultimately greater motivation and happiness.

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Find happiness through OKRs

Objectives and Key Metrics, or short OKRs, are a popular method for laying out a vision, defining strategy and tracking the progress of a business. Originally, this technique was invented at Intel. Some of the prominent companies using OKRs are Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Zynga…

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Humans: The weak link of OKRs

OKRs are all the rage among the startups these days. There is a lot of resources on what OKRs are and how to use them. While OKRs, as a concept, seem pretty straightforward – introducing them in an organization can be tricky.

Playbook for adopting OKRs in a startup Blog Visual

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Playbook for adopting OKRs in a startup

Mark Zuckerberg has just announced that, after ten years, Facebook is changing its mission statement. The old mission statement “Make the world more open and connected.” has been changed to Bring the world closer together.

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Facebook just changed its mission statement. Do you even have one?

The hyper-condensed explanation of OKRs. What is OKRs? OKRs or Objectives & Key Results is a goal setting and management methodology for businesses and organizations. Who uses OKRs? OKRs were invented at Intel and later made popular at Google. Today, numerous organizations use OKRs: Accenture, Amazon, Box, Deloitte, Dropbox, Facebook, Gap, GE, Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, Microsoft, etc.

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A lot of organizations say that they have a problem with always being late with setting their OKRs. For example, it's January 15th and they still haven't set the OKRs. What typically follows is the sense of failure, guilt, and frustration. Why are organizations late with OKRs? In my experience, the most common reason, why a team or company would be late with OKRs, is that they want them to be “perfect”.

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We are late with our OKRs! Now what?!

I’ve just had a conversation with a fellow agile enthusiast and a question popped up. Namely, is “Increase new sales by 50%” a good objective? The theory or best practices say that objective should be qualitative (no numbers), and key results should be quantitative (numbers). I also happen to think that in practice this works best, and here is 5 reasons why.

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How to OKR: Why objective should be qualitative?

Gtmhub helps companies align teams around what matters most. Most often, our customers use Objective and Key Results (OKRs) to define what needs to be achieved, and how to measure progress. But OKRs are means to an end.

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OKRs are a means to an end

How to craft effective OKRs for engineers with examples for all levels of the engineering team, including individuals, managers, and the entire team.

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Engineering OKRs: Best Practices and Engineering OKR Examples

The world welcomed more Unicorns recently. A Unicorn is a privately owned company with a valuation in excess of $1B. Most of them have one thing in common. A not so secret ingredient.

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The Secret Ingredient in the Unicorn Recipe

OKRs are simple, but not easy. The main problem people have when defining their OKRs is switching from an output (what I need to do) to an outcome (what I need to achieve) mindset. This is particularly true in functions such as software development, where releasing features [on time] and fixing bugs has traditionally been the only way to drive and measure performance.

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OKR example: Software development

Having spent most of my professional life leading Human Resources teams with global investment banks, consultancies and technology companies – and many smaller, fast-growth tech SMEs around the world – I’ve honestly struggled to end every day with my head held high.

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Engineering Incredible Employee Experience and Focused Human Performance

There is one thing that organizations of any type should master if they want to leverage the OKR superpowers – writing great OKRs. Why so? Because the quality of your OKRs can affect the achievement of your goals in the long run.

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How to write great OKRs

OKR software helps organizations with all four components or OKR adoption: Education, Process design, Supporting the process & Benefitting from OKRs.

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Why enterprises can't do OKRs without the software

Ultimately, that outcome, the assignment of value by a party (or multiple parties) external to the organization is the reason for being of the organization. Call it “The Ultimate Outcome.”


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The Ultimate Outcome

In the “A tale of two kings” series, we aim to provide thought-provoking insights into goal setting and compare OKRs to alternative methods. In the first part, we’re going to explore what OKRs and 4DX are and how are they different from each other.

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A tale of two kings: OKRs vs. 4DX

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) can transform your flimsy resolutions into a clear, sound and actionable plan for growth and achievement.


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Ditch New Year's Resolutions and try OKRs instead

If you’ve made the decision to implement OKRs in your organization, this article is for you. Maybe OKRs are new to you or perhaps you’ve tried implementing the methodology in your organization before with lackluster results. Either way, you want your team to succeed. Here are some tips to help your team adopt OKRs successfully.

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6 tips to prevent failure in OKR implementation (Part 1)

When just starting with OKRs, many organizations decide to start with Google Sheets or Excel templates. But the reality is that good OKR software helps you along the whole journey.

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OKRs: Gtmhub vs Spreadsheets

Recent top headlines on CNBC: “Dow falls more than 150 points after US unveils new tariffs on Chinese goods”, “European markets lower on trade war concerns (FTSE -1.08%, DAX -1.47%, CAC -1.30%)”, “How Trump’s NATO summit and Putin meeting could shape the future of the West”, “Facebook faces UK fine of around $660,000 after data scandal found to be illegal” 

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How to Thrive in Uncertainty: The Future of Great Work is Finally Here

Blog.

Why do OKRs fail?

Going Big: OKRs for large businesses

Getting started with OKRs for small businesses

Gtmhub Raises $120 Million Series C Largest Funding Round in the OKRs Software Space

Start with the vision

How to Set OKRs

Find happiness through OKRs

Humans: The weak link of OKRs

Playbook for adopting OKRs in a startup

Facebook just changed its mission statement. Do you even have one?

OKR

We are late with our OKRs! Now what?!

How to OKR: Why objective should be qualitative?

OKRs are a means to an end

Engineering OKRs: Best Practices and Engineering OKR Examples

The Secret Ingredient in the Unicorn Recipe

OKR example: Software development

Engineering Incredible Employee Experience and Focused Human Performance

How to write great OKRs

Why enterprises can't do OKRs without the software

The Ultimate Outcome

A tale of two kings: OKRs vs. 4DX

Going Big: OKRs for large businesses

Getting started with OKRs for small businesses

Ditch New Year's Resolutions and try OKRs instead

6 tips to prevent failure in OKR implementation (Part 1)

OKRs: Gtmhub vs Spreadsheets

How to Thrive in Uncertainty: The Future of Great Work is Finally Here

How to grow, achieve more and be happy

3 Steps to improved performance and employee happiness

The Health Problem

OKRs enable home and remote workers

If you are not changing things, AI is likely to take over your job

Ask these 3 questions to succeed with OKRs.