Negotiating and setting the annual and quarterly OKR is another step towards success
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 4:11 am
This requires preparatory planning, during which the parties involved compare their ideas about the OKR (top-down versus bottom-up) and finally agree on them. This OKR planning is therefore more of a preparatory phase than a single meeting. The more you move away from a push process and closer to a pull process, the more agile your teams and your entire business will become.
In day-to-day operations, the teams then regularly report on the degree to which they have achieved their goals. In agile companies, such OKR reviews can be easily combined with sprint reviews. Just as the regular OKR retrospectives, which help us to make adjustments, can be combined with agile retrospectives. At higher levels, OKR reviews and retrospectives take place once a quarter, immediately before the next OKR planning.
History of the OKR method
A few words about history: The method is not new, it has its roots in the 1950s. In 1954, Peter F. Drucker described the management technique “ Management by Objectives ” in his book “The Practice of Management”.
Later, in the 1970s, Andrew Grove , CEO of Intel, refined the cayman islands consumer email list method and published his book "High Output Management" on the subject in 1975. A certain John Doerr was also on board at the time . At the end of the 1990s, it was this same John Doerr who moved from Intel to Google and popularized the method under the name Objectives and Key Results (OKR). In doing so, he probably contributed significantly to Google's success.
Since then, countless large and small companies around the world have adapted the method for themselves. These include Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Samsung, Baidu, Tencent, Netflix, Spotify, Adobe, but also German companies such as Zalando, BMW and E.ON.
The most important basis for a company's success is to set goals for the benefit of the customer. To ensure that everyone in the company has a uniform understanding of this, a mission statement is required. Only on this can a strategy be built. To ensure that these short, medium and long-term goals fit together sensibly at all levels of the company, they must be formulated in a way that is understandable to everyone and transparently visible.
Limiting yourself to a few OKRs at all levels and time slices creates the focus that is absolutely necessary. Too many companies today still operate according to the motto of maximum parallelization, which unfortunately increases the risk of failure. When consistently implemented, objectives and key results help to heed an important agile principle: Stop starting! Start finishing! This principle should be taken seriously, especially in management, because the focus starts at the top.
The OKR method can be perfectly integrated into agile processes. The additional effort required for this is time well spent. On the one hand, it allows us to work independently and with focus in the teams, and on the other hand, it ensures that we contribute to the strategic corporate goals. What's more, the permeability of the OKR from bottom to top means we can positively influence the corporate strategy.
In day-to-day operations, the teams then regularly report on the degree to which they have achieved their goals. In agile companies, such OKR reviews can be easily combined with sprint reviews. Just as the regular OKR retrospectives, which help us to make adjustments, can be combined with agile retrospectives. At higher levels, OKR reviews and retrospectives take place once a quarter, immediately before the next OKR planning.
History of the OKR method
A few words about history: The method is not new, it has its roots in the 1950s. In 1954, Peter F. Drucker described the management technique “ Management by Objectives ” in his book “The Practice of Management”.
Later, in the 1970s, Andrew Grove , CEO of Intel, refined the cayman islands consumer email list method and published his book "High Output Management" on the subject in 1975. A certain John Doerr was also on board at the time . At the end of the 1990s, it was this same John Doerr who moved from Intel to Google and popularized the method under the name Objectives and Key Results (OKR). In doing so, he probably contributed significantly to Google's success.
Since then, countless large and small companies around the world have adapted the method for themselves. These include Amazon, Meta (Facebook), Samsung, Baidu, Tencent, Netflix, Spotify, Adobe, but also German companies such as Zalando, BMW and E.ON.
The most important basis for a company's success is to set goals for the benefit of the customer. To ensure that everyone in the company has a uniform understanding of this, a mission statement is required. Only on this can a strategy be built. To ensure that these short, medium and long-term goals fit together sensibly at all levels of the company, they must be formulated in a way that is understandable to everyone and transparently visible.
Limiting yourself to a few OKRs at all levels and time slices creates the focus that is absolutely necessary. Too many companies today still operate according to the motto of maximum parallelization, which unfortunately increases the risk of failure. When consistently implemented, objectives and key results help to heed an important agile principle: Stop starting! Start finishing! This principle should be taken seriously, especially in management, because the focus starts at the top.
The OKR method can be perfectly integrated into agile processes. The additional effort required for this is time well spent. On the one hand, it allows us to work independently and with focus in the teams, and on the other hand, it ensures that we contribute to the strategic corporate goals. What's more, the permeability of the OKR from bottom to top means we can positively influence the corporate strategy.