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Ugh. OKRs.

· 2 min read
Adam Kecskes
Adam Kecskes
Operations and Engineering Manager

OKRs: Objectives and Key Results.

Oof, how they bother me sometimes. Nothing wrong with them per se, except they sometimes obfuscate what should happen behind just another TLA (Three Letter Acronym), an idea created from the heart of Intel (who I used to work for), as notorious for their overuse of acronyms as the US military is.

How about we keep it real instead? I propose the following: "What, How, Do" method. Very little to explain:

  • ✅ What [needs to get done?].
  • ✅ How [will it get done and how will you know?].
  • ✅ Do [it].

Easier, right? Less corporate jargon, more human words. That's easily twice as good as an OKR, so should generate 20x growth! 📈

And seriously... the human approach has worked for me a thousand times better than setting up OKRs. Forced acronyms like these dehumanize the effort; it can lead to unimaginative thinking and fixed mindsets. And where there's an even a hint of formality like this, there's opportunity for abuse and gaming the system and many different levels. I've seen it happen all too often and I hate it, so I'm not a big fan of OKRs.

It's easier to talk about what needs to get done when you strip away the air of pretentiousness and alienation that words like "objectives" and "key results" create. As someone who regularly advocates that we should not be afraid to use "big" words, sometimes corporate jargon goes too far the opposite direction, and OKRs are a prime example of big words taken too far.