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

Author John Doerr began his career under the tutelage of the great Andy Grove, CEO of Intel, who transformed that company into the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductors. It was Andy Grove who turned a simple method “OKRs”, into a devastatingly effective business tool which became the lifeblood of Intel. In 1978, Intel had developed the first high-performance, 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086. Soon it was getting overtaken by Motorola’s 68000 which was easier to program. Using OKRs, Intel launched “Operation Crush” to deal with this threat. The results were fast, focused and effective. “When we smacked Motorola between the eyes,” Doerr writes, “A manager there told me, ‘I couldn’t get a plane ticket from Chicago to Arizona approved in the time you took to launch your campaign.’” Doerr left Intel to join the venture capital firm at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and became an early investor in Google. There he managed to entrench Andy Grove’s business tool to great effect and it is acknowledged as a key contributor to Google’s success. The results have made Doerr the 105th richest man in the US. This book describes how to use this tool. John Doerr is the current evangelist for OKRs, OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. As a strategist, I know the importance of knowing where you are going or as Yogi Berra pithily said: "If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there.” However, as Doerr writes, and as you and I know, “Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.” OKRs are for executing. An “objective” is simply what is to be achieved, no more and no less. Key results benchmark and monitor how we get to the objective. The difference between ‘key results’ and ‘key performance indicators’ are very different. I may really be impressed that you performed well, but your efforts are only useful if you achieved the results I need. Marissa Mayer would say of OKRs, “It’s not a key result unless it has a number.” With a number attached, OKRs are either met of not met. There is no grey area, no room for doubt. The time frame for an OKR can vary from a month to a quarter or more, but at the end of the period, they have either been met or they have not. When the objective is clear and specific, it produces far better results than when it is vaguely worded. ‘Performance excellence,’ or ‘Customer satisfaction’ are very different when expressed as ‘98% error free’, or ‘delivered within 12 hours’. Aside from Google and Intel, OKR adherents include IT firms such as AOL, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Oracle, Slack, Spotify, and Twitter. But adherents also include firms such as Anheuser-Busch, BMW, Disney, Exxon, and Samsung. The simplicity of the design of OKRs hides the complexity of implementing the method. When the OKR is formulated, it will undergo iteration – this is inevitable. And this is not the problem. The problem is the commitment of the most senior managers to the discipline that is required. Without the most senior managers' commitment this will fail, much as your previous systems have failed to produce the promised result. In a meta-analysis of seventy studies, high commitment to managing the company by objectives showed a productivity increase of 56%. Where that commitment was low, productivity increases were a mere 6%. The problem with getting results is compounded when we are employing people to think. On an assembly line, it’s easy enough to distinguish output from activity. It gets trickier when employees are paid to think. In a thinking environment, many of the benefits of OKRs are highlighted. A particular challenge for many in such an environment is separating the person from the activity. All too often, feedback becomes very personal leading many managers to avoid confronting non-performance. When the focus is on unequivocal results that can be tracked, then non-performance can move to an analytical discussion. After all, a performance management system is a tool, not a weapon. The OKR is formulated as “We will achieve a certain objective as measured by the following key results. This begins at the highest appropriate level of the organization and then all below can align their OKRs to this meta-OKR. When Bob Noyce and Andy Grove began the “Crush” project, the directive to Intel’s management level was simple and clear: “We’re going to win in 16-bit microprocessors. We’re committed to this.” This objective was given to the top one hundred people at the meeting. It was conveyed to the next level in 24 hours. Intel was close to a billion-dollar company at the time, and “it turned on a dime” - through a clear, aligned, objective and a clear required result. The “Crush” project included top management, the entire sales force, four different marketing departments, and three geographic locations—all working together as one. It was proof of Andy Groves assertion that “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” Great companies are not great because they have a great idea, but because their execution is great. There are no exceptions. Those who do not have excellent execution are an accident waiting to happen. Using OKRs, a successful organization can focus on the handful of initiatives that can make a real difference and defer the less urgent ones. The very act of formulating the objective makes communication with clarity possible. Focusing on results rather than activities allows people to adjust their activities to meet the results, rather than to slavishly following performance indicators, as the environment changes. Consider this horrifying finding: In a survey of eleven thousand senior executives and managers, a majority couldn’t name their company’s top priorities! “There are so many people working so hard and achieving so little,” Andy Grove noted. To address this issue will require commitment to making the OKR process effective, and this commitment should not be understated, which is why it has to start from the very top. If you are a leader of your business your commitment should start with a reading of John Doerr’s book, and then share it with your colleagues. My personal experience with the process is best summed up by actress Mae West’s famous statement: I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it. Readability Light --+-- Serious Insights High ---+- Low Practical High +---- Low *Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on strategy and implementation and is the author of the recently released ‘Executive Update.’

This is a book on how to set goals and how to measure them. With proven results in well-known and diverse companies like Intel (where the methodology was born), Google, MyFitnessPal, Intuit, The Gates Foundation, Bono’s ONE among others. Some ideas from the book: It helps keep a company on time and on track and moving forward. It is a methodology that focuses the company’s efforts on the important issues, so an Objective is what must be achieved, and Key Results compare and monitor how to reach the objective, so they are measurable and verifiable, aka OKR. Goals create alignment, clarity, and job satisfaction Emphasizing output is the key to increasing productivity, while looking to increase activity can do just the opposite An organization may need up to four or five quarterly cycles to fully adopt the system Nothing moves us forward like a deadline The author states that with the advent of social networks, transparency is the default setting for our daily lives, and that transparency seeds collaboration Another concept stated by the author is that employees thrive when they can see how their work aligns to the company’s overall goals There is another concept that goes along with OKR, CFR (Conversations, Feedback & Recognition), in this way OKR and compensations are separated but they are friends The author states this powerful phrase “People watch what you do more than what you say” A must read, suitable for management as well as employees

This is a great book for goal setting. It’s pretty dense. Felt like taking a college course. If you’re in the position to implement the strategies then the book will give value. This is kind of a classic “give you the idea, good luck on the execution though” Doerr tries to give as much help for execution but it doesn’t make it less difficult. Great knowledge though.

This was a really fun book to read, and a quick one at that. Though the initial part of the book lays out exactly what you need to do, and the final chapters outline how to do it, it's the stories in the middle that tell you the impact of the what and how at exemplary institutions and organizations. A worthwhile read for anyone leading anything with a small or large team.

John Doerr is a great OKRs populizer. He takes OKR fundamentals laid down by Andy Grove in his phenomenal "High Output Management", extends them and shows how this management framework is implemented across wide variety of local and global companies. The book is good. But why it falls 1 star short from a perfect rating is its nature of overselling. Quite a big part of book is "customer review" of the executives who implemented OKRs. The book has a feeling of hidden sales approach, as if John promotes his services of OKR implementer to the reader. As a person who is already sold to this framework way before reaching this book, I found it unnecessary. Book could be perfect with less stories from founders and more in-depth examples, tips & tricks, and technicalities of this framework. P.S. If you want to read this book, I strongly recommend to read "High Output Management" first, and then come to "Measure What Matters". This would give you a better understanding of OKRs.

A great deal of insights into how Google and number of other businesses (many in tech it not all) have adopted a forms OKR (objectives and key results) process to manage the organization. Lots of value here but also some issues I found with the book as a whole. For one the extended sections from different people while offering insights into how a lot of different people and organizations have used OKRs were also as a reader jarring - with not all being written in the same format. More deeply I think there are some unwritten insights here into the shortcomings of the OKR approach that aren’t given much discussion. While we can all look at the financial success of Google for employees and shareholders its impact on the world has become less clearly positive over the years. The sections of this book on YouTube as well as the internal resources offered by Google on their OKR process give some clues as to how issues like diversity, harrassment, inapppropriate content, hate speech etc can keep occurring on Google sites like YouTube without seemingly much reaction by Google as an organization. Namely that OKRs focus so much on a few key measurable results they can lead to an organization not prioritizing other less easily measured but important goals (like supporting YouTube creators or the experience of kids on the site - not from a business perspective of encouraging more time spent but from a quality perspective of not being exposed to hate speech in the comments etc). So while I am left thinking about the value of OKRs as a tool within organizations I am also concerned that it has some structural weaknesses as well - in potentially making it hard to prioritize impacts on parties not part of the OKR process (Bono’s section discusses how his charities have over time realized that they need input directly from Africans and need to work with in a deep and collaborative way with Africans and their governments). Likewise I would argue that Google and likely other tech companies have often lost sight of the impacts on their users and partners in their push to make financial goals. And no there is no process or simple to adopt tool to solve for this - it likely can be partially addressed by how these tools are used but it also likely takes asking the deeper questions of what is lost by an organization if some “lower” priority objectives are never prioritized or acted upon (ie addressing toxic comments on YouTube for example).

I’m always looking for tools to increase productivity. This book is an excellent introduction if you’re not familiar with OKRs. I enjoyed reading the case studies in the book and about John’s personal history of tech in Silicon Valley. Measure What Matters is a handbook for both small and large organizations for setting and achieving audacious goals through the use of OKRs. OKRs stands for "Objectives and Key Results." It is a collaborative goal-setting methodology used by teams and individuals to set challenging, ambitious goals with measurable results. OKRs are how you track progress, create alignment, and encourage engagement around measurable goals. John is an engineer, acclaimed venture capitalist, and the chairman of Kleiner Perkins. John was an original investor and board member at Google and Amazon. He’s passionate about encouraging leaders to reimagine the future, from transforming healthcare to advancing applications of machine learning.

This book was purchased as a random pick of the month, and turned out to be surprisingly interesting. I have seen OKRs being used at companies but I never quite understood them. This book helped me realize why I didn’t understand OKRs! It was because I wasn’t involved in them. John Doerr really drives it home that for OKRs to be successful they have to adopted by the entire organization and the real power is unlocked when the entire organization participates. The author goes on to include testimonies from companies that have adopted OKRs and the challenges they faced. The only downside to this I would say is that there are too many stories of 'apparent’ success and not enough of failures. There is a balance that is missing, but otherwise the stories do reinforce the concept of OKRs, and subsequently CFRs, on the reader. Beware of the high optimism in all of the testimonies. For example, one of the testimonies is from a company called Zume. It sounded like the rosiest story ever but when I checked online the company has become a total mess. Another issue I found with the book is ‘time’. I recall quite a few times where the author begins a testimony with « two years ago » and you wonder « two years from when ?». The author could easily say « In 2015 I was advising .... » and establish the frame of reference. To conclude, the book is a great and engrossing read. It lit multiple bulbs in my brain from the get-go. I get OKRs now and have begun creating them for my own personal goals.

Book has some interesting stories on start-ups. This was written in 2017 so it's interesting to look up what is going in companies right now. For example, a whole chapter was devoted to "The Zume Pizza" which turned out to be a bust -- but you can research how the company "pivoted" to using robots in the food processing industry. Chapter 15 "Continuous Performance Management" Not a new concept, but it may be something to really learn if you're a manager or business leader. Basically provide employee feedback ALL time, instead of just once a year. It's a very idea-dense book, so you'll want to market it up and go back and re-read at times, just to understand some of the concepts.

I just finished "Measure What Matters" by John Doerr. Such a great book full of advice for companies struggling with #execution. My favorite #quotes from this book: "Good ideas with great execution are how you make magic." @Larry Page "Ideas are easy. Execution is everything." "I view this year's failure as next year's opportunity to try it again." @Gordon Moore "Specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than vaguely worded ones." "Set goals from bottom up." "Dare to fail." "... four OKR superpowers: focus, alignment, tracking, and stretching." "Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them." @Andy Grove "When you are tired of saying it, people are starting to hear it." Jeff Weiner "Done is better than perfect." Sheryl Sandberg "... if we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing." "Growth costs money." "... you can only do one big thing at a time really well, and so you better know what that one is." "Doing too much too soon will definitely end in pain." "To inspire true commitment, leaders must practice what they teach" "Transparency seeds collaboration." "Having a good mission is not enough. You need a concrete objective, and to need to know how you're going to get there." "... my favorite definition of entrepreneurs: Those who do more than anyone thinks possible ... with less than anyone thinks possible." "If you set a crazy, ambitious goal and miss it, you'll still achieve something remarkable." @Larry Page "Stretch goals can be crushing if people do not believe they're achievable. That's where the art of framing comes in." "Feedback is an opinion, grounded in observations and experiences, which allows us to know what impression we make on others." Sheryl Sandberg "Feedback can be highly constructive- but only if it is specific." "Continuous recognition is a powerful driver of engagement." "... a really good company values different opinions." "... behavior defines a company more meaningfully than product lines or market share." "Vision-based leadership beats command-and-control." "People watch what you do more than what you say." "Time is the enemy of transformation." "... there was no shame in trying your hardest and failing, not when OKRs help you fail smart and fail fast." "Goal setting is more art than science."

Author John Doerr began his career under the tutelage of the great Andy Grove, CEO of Intel, who transformed that company into the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductors. It was Andy Grove who turned a simple method “OKRs”, into a devastatingly effective business tool which became the lifeblood of Intel. In 1978, Intel had developed the first high-performance, 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086. Soon it was getting overtaken by Motorola’s 68000 which was easier to program. Using OKRs, Intel launched “Operation Crush” to deal with this threat. The results were fast, focused and effective. “When we smacked Motorola between the eyes,” Doerr writes, “A manager there told me, ‘I couldn’t get a plane ticket from Chicago to Arizona approved in the time you took to launch your campaign.’” Doerr left Intel to join the venture capital firm at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and became an early investor in Google. There he managed to entrench Andy Grove’s business tool to great effect and it is acknowledged as a key contributor to Google’s success. The results have made Doerr the 105th richest man in the US. This book describes how to use this tool. John Doerr is the current evangelist for OKRs, OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results. As a strategist, I know the importance of knowing where you are going or as Yogi Berra pithily said: "If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there.” However, as Doerr writes, and as you and I know, “Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.” OKRs are for executing. An “objective” is simply what is to be achieved, no more and no less. Key results benchmark and monitor how we get to the objective. The difference between ‘key results’ and ‘key performance indicators’ are very different. I may really be impressed that you performed well, but your efforts are only useful if you achieved the results I need. Marissa Mayer would say of OKRs, “It’s not a key result unless it has a number.” With a number attached, OKRs are either met of not met. There is no grey area, no room for doubt. The time frame for an OKR can vary from a month to a quarter or more, but at the end of the period, they have either been met or they have not. When the objective is clear and specific, it produces far better results than when it is vaguely worded. ‘Performance excellence,’ or ‘Customer satisfaction’ are very different when expressed as ‘98% error free’, or ‘delivered within 12 hours’. Aside from Google and Intel, OKR adherents include IT firms such as AOL, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Oracle, Slack, Spotify, and Twitter. But adherents also include firms such as Anheuser-Busch, BMW, Disney, Exxon, and Samsung. The simplicity of the design of OKRs hides the complexity of implementing the method. When the OKR is formulated, it will undergo iteration – this is inevitable. And this is not the problem. The problem is the commitment of the most senior managers to the discipline that is required. Without the most senior managers' commitment this will fail, much as your previous systems have failed to produce the promised result. In a meta-analysis of seventy studies, high commitment to managing the company by objectives showed a productivity increase of 56%. Where that commitment was low, productivity increases were a mere 6%. The problem with getting results is compounded when we are employing people to think. On an assembly line, it’s easy enough to distinguish output from activity. It gets trickier when employees are paid to think. In a thinking environment, many of the benefits of OKRs are highlighted. A particular challenge for many in such an environment is separating the person from the activity. All too often, feedback becomes very personal leading many managers to avoid confronting non-performance. When the focus is on unequivocal results that can be tracked, then non-performance can move to an analytical discussion. After all, a performance management system is a tool, not a weapon. The OKR is formulated as “We will achieve a certain objective as measured by the following key results. This begins at the highest appropriate level of the organization and then all below can align their OKRs to this meta-OKR. When Bob Noyce and Andy Grove began the “Crush” project, the directive to Intel’s management level was simple and clear: “We’re going to win in 16-bit microprocessors. We’re committed to this.” This objective was given to the top one hundred people at the meeting. It was conveyed to the next level in 24 hours. Intel was close to a billion-dollar company at the time, and “it turned on a dime” - through a clear, aligned, objective and a clear required result. The “Crush” project included top management, the entire sales force, four different marketing departments, and three geographic locations—all working together as one. It was proof of Andy Groves assertion that “Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” Great companies are not great because they have a great idea, but because their execution is great. There are no exceptions. Those who do not have excellent execution are an accident waiting to happen. Using OKRs, a successful organization can focus on the handful of initiatives that can make a real difference and defer the less urgent ones. The very act of formulating the objective makes communication with clarity possible. Focusing on results rather than activities allows people to adjust their activities to meet the results, rather than to slavishly following performance indicators, as the environment changes. Consider this horrifying finding: In a survey of eleven thousand senior executives and managers, a majority couldn’t name their company’s top priorities! “There are so many people working so hard and achieving so little,” Andy Grove noted. To address this issue will require commitment to making the OKR process effective, and this commitment should not be understated, which is why it has to start from the very top. If you are a leader of your business your commitment should start with a reading of John Doerr’s book, and then share it with your colleagues. My personal experience with the process is best summed up by actress Mae West’s famous statement: I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it. Readability Light --+-- Serious Insights High ---+- Low Practical High +---- Low *Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on strategy and implementation and is the author of the recently released ‘Executive Update.’

This is a book on how to set goals and how to measure them. With proven results in well-known and diverse companies like Intel (where the methodology was born), Google, MyFitnessPal, Intuit, The Gates Foundation, Bono’s ONE among others. Some ideas from the book: It helps keep a company on time and on track and moving forward. It is a methodology that focuses the company’s efforts on the important issues, so an Objective is what must be achieved, and Key Results compare and monitor how to reach the objective, so they are measurable and verifiable, aka OKR. Goals create alignment, clarity, and job satisfaction Emphasizing output is the key to increasing productivity, while looking to increase activity can do just the opposite An organization may need up to four or five quarterly cycles to fully adopt the system Nothing moves us forward like a deadline The author states that with the advent of social networks, transparency is the default setting for our daily lives, and that transparency seeds collaboration Another concept stated by the author is that employees thrive when they can see how their work aligns to the company’s overall goals There is another concept that goes along with OKR, CFR (Conversations, Feedback & Recognition), in this way OKR and compensations are separated but they are friends The author states this powerful phrase “People watch what you do more than what you say” A must read, suitable for management as well as employees

This is a great book for goal setting. It’s pretty dense. Felt like taking a college course. If you’re in the position to implement the strategies then the book will give value. This is kind of a classic “give you the idea, good luck on the execution though” Doerr tries to give as much help for execution but it doesn’t make it less difficult. Great knowledge though.

This was a really fun book to read, and a quick one at that. Though the initial part of the book lays out exactly what you need to do, and the final chapters outline how to do it, it's the stories in the middle that tell you the impact of the what and how at exemplary institutions and organizations. A worthwhile read for anyone leading anything with a small or large team.

John Doerr is a great OKRs populizer. He takes OKR fundamentals laid down by Andy Grove in his phenomenal "High Output Management", extends them and shows how this management framework is implemented across wide variety of local and global companies. The book is good. But why it falls 1 star short from a perfect rating is its nature of overselling. Quite a big part of book is "customer review" of the executives who implemented OKRs. The book has a feeling of hidden sales approach, as if John promotes his services of OKR implementer to the reader. As a person who is already sold to this framework way before reaching this book, I found it unnecessary. Book could be perfect with less stories from founders and more in-depth examples, tips & tricks, and technicalities of this framework. P.S. If you want to read this book, I strongly recommend to read "High Output Management" first, and then come to "Measure What Matters". This would give you a better understanding of OKRs.

A great deal of insights into how Google and number of other businesses (many in tech it not all) have adopted a forms OKR (objectives and key results) process to manage the organization. Lots of value here but also some issues I found with the book as a whole. For one the extended sections from different people while offering insights into how a lot of different people and organizations have used OKRs were also as a reader jarring - with not all being written in the same format. More deeply I think there are some unwritten insights here into the shortcomings of the OKR approach that aren’t given much discussion. While we can all look at the financial success of Google for employees and shareholders its impact on the world has become less clearly positive over the years. The sections of this book on YouTube as well as the internal resources offered by Google on their OKR process give some clues as to how issues like diversity, harrassment, inapppropriate content, hate speech etc can keep occurring on Google sites like YouTube without seemingly much reaction by Google as an organization. Namely that OKRs focus so much on a few key measurable results they can lead to an organization not prioritizing other less easily measured but important goals (like supporting YouTube creators or the experience of kids on the site - not from a business perspective of encouraging more time spent but from a quality perspective of not being exposed to hate speech in the comments etc). So while I am left thinking about the value of OKRs as a tool within organizations I am also concerned that it has some structural weaknesses as well - in potentially making it hard to prioritize impacts on parties not part of the OKR process (Bono’s section discusses how his charities have over time realized that they need input directly from Africans and need to work with in a deep and collaborative way with Africans and their governments). Likewise I would argue that Google and likely other tech companies have often lost sight of the impacts on their users and partners in their push to make financial goals. And no there is no process or simple to adopt tool to solve for this - it likely can be partially addressed by how these tools are used but it also likely takes asking the deeper questions of what is lost by an organization if some “lower” priority objectives are never prioritized or acted upon (ie addressing toxic comments on YouTube for example).

I’m always looking for tools to increase productivity. This book is an excellent introduction if you’re not familiar with OKRs. I enjoyed reading the case studies in the book and about John’s personal history of tech in Silicon Valley. Measure What Matters is a handbook for both small and large organizations for setting and achieving audacious goals through the use of OKRs. OKRs stands for "Objectives and Key Results." It is a collaborative goal-setting methodology used by teams and individuals to set challenging, ambitious goals with measurable results. OKRs are how you track progress, create alignment, and encourage engagement around measurable goals. John is an engineer, acclaimed venture capitalist, and the chairman of Kleiner Perkins. John was an original investor and board member at Google and Amazon. He’s passionate about encouraging leaders to reimagine the future, from transforming healthcare to advancing applications of machine learning.

This book was purchased as a random pick of the month, and turned out to be surprisingly interesting. I have seen OKRs being used at companies but I never quite understood them. This book helped me realize why I didn’t understand OKRs! It was because I wasn’t involved in them. John Doerr really drives it home that for OKRs to be successful they have to adopted by the entire organization and the real power is unlocked when the entire organization participates. The author goes on to include testimonies from companies that have adopted OKRs and the challenges they faced. The only downside to this I would say is that there are too many stories of 'apparent’ success and not enough of failures. There is a balance that is missing, but otherwise the stories do reinforce the concept of OKRs, and subsequently CFRs, on the reader. Beware of the high optimism in all of the testimonies. For example, one of the testimonies is from a company called Zume. It sounded like the rosiest story ever but when I checked online the company has become a total mess. Another issue I found with the book is ‘time’. I recall quite a few times where the author begins a testimony with « two years ago » and you wonder « two years from when ?». The author could easily say « In 2015 I was advising .... » and establish the frame of reference. To conclude, the book is a great and engrossing read. It lit multiple bulbs in my brain from the get-go. I get OKRs now and have begun creating them for my own personal goals.

Book has some interesting stories on start-ups. This was written in 2017 so it's interesting to look up what is going in companies right now. For example, a whole chapter was devoted to "The Zume Pizza" which turned out to be a bust -- but you can research how the company "pivoted" to using robots in the food processing industry. Chapter 15 "Continuous Performance Management" Not a new concept, but it may be something to really learn if you're a manager or business leader. Basically provide employee feedback ALL time, instead of just once a year. It's a very idea-dense book, so you'll want to market it up and go back and re-read at times, just to understand some of the concepts.

I just finished "Measure What Matters" by John Doerr. Such a great book full of advice for companies struggling with #execution. My favorite #quotes from this book: "Good ideas with great execution are how you make magic." @Larry Page "Ideas are easy. Execution is everything." "I view this year's failure as next year's opportunity to try it again." @Gordon Moore "Specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than vaguely worded ones." "Set goals from bottom up." "Dare to fail." "... four OKR superpowers: focus, alignment, tracking, and stretching." "Bad companies are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them." @Andy Grove "When you are tired of saying it, people are starting to hear it." Jeff Weiner "Done is better than perfect." Sheryl Sandberg "... if we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing." "Growth costs money." "... you can only do one big thing at a time really well, and so you better know what that one is." "Doing too much too soon will definitely end in pain." "To inspire true commitment, leaders must practice what they teach" "Transparency seeds collaboration." "Having a good mission is not enough. You need a concrete objective, and to need to know how you're going to get there." "... my favorite definition of entrepreneurs: Those who do more than anyone thinks possible ... with less than anyone thinks possible." "If you set a crazy, ambitious goal and miss it, you'll still achieve something remarkable." @Larry Page "Stretch goals can be crushing if people do not believe they're achievable. That's where the art of framing comes in." "Feedback is an opinion, grounded in observations and experiences, which allows us to know what impression we make on others." Sheryl Sandberg "Feedback can be highly constructive- but only if it is specific." "Continuous recognition is a powerful driver of engagement." "... a really good company values different opinions." "... behavior defines a company more meaningfully than product lines or market share." "Vision-based leadership beats command-and-control." "People watch what you do more than what you say." "Time is the enemy of transformation." "... there was no shame in trying your hardest and failing, not when OKRs help you fail smart and fail fast." "Goal setting is more art than science."

Helpful if your company is implementing OKRs or if you generally want tips on how to set clear, impactful, measurable goals.

Maybe I'm just overly educated, I do have a PhD, but this book and it's central idea of okrs is a lot of nada. Objective key results. Make them open, as in public, unlimited two to four. Don't be afraid to adapt as necessary, that's it. I wonder if the author feels a bit like a snake oil salesman? I guess read it if you're a dim bulb and you need that stuff explained to you from someone who has had business success, with occasional anecdotes to illuminate the obvious points.

I couldn’t put this book down, so I read it in one sitting. Many business books talk about the organizational brilliance of Andy Grove's Intel, Google, disruptive startups, and high-performing charities. This one actively teaches you how to mimic their organizational brilliance. The book distinguishes itself by providing clear examples of how OKRs help organizations achieve their full potential. Primary source documents, including internal memos, show how Intel CEO Andy Grove used OKRs to rapidly respond to competitive threats. As an admirer of Google, I enjoyed learning how OKRs were used at key points in its history. When Google employed 25 people, CEO Larry Page set OKRs for every engineer. When Chrome sought to disrupt the browser market, OKRs enhanced the product team’s creativity. When YouTube sought to establish its own identity within Google, OKRs helped the team set appropriate business goals. It’s really nice that specific OKRs from Google’s history are included in the book. Some people mistakenly believe that OKRs only work for Google, and the book provides clear examples of how OKRs were successfully implemented by startups, large corporations, and non-profit organizations. Entrepreneurs will enjoy learning how fitness, education, healthcare, and food delivery startups used OKRs to find new markets and manage their expanding headcount. Fans of corporate transformations will enjoy learning how OKRs led to human resources and technology process overhauls at some of the world's largest companies. Non-profit leaders will enjoy learning how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Bono used OKRs to impact millions. All in all, I found the chapters to be short yet impactful, and arranged in a logical sequence. I particularly liked that as the book progresses, it provides clear examples of how to overcome the nuances of implementing OKRs. I felt my OKR-setting muscles getting stronger by the end of the book.

Very detailed with great case studies.

I had been meaning to read about OKRs and a colleague recommended this book. It gives a good history on the methodology and how to apply it, with examples. Some of the case studies are really interesting, like the Youtube one and the length of the videos. The annoying thing is the author's obsession with Andy Grove, from Intel. I was surprised about how Google is such a purist when it comes to this, which is, after all, just another way of planning and prioritizing work. There are other frameworks available, and although this is a simple one that does give good results, people tend to over commit and obsess with the numbers. The example provided on the sales strategy for Intel and regional rewards reminded me of overworked and unhappy employees. I guess a missing OKR is ensuring OKRs don't make your employees want to leave.

I like the title, measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs. Yet, the key information comes too far away in the book content, so if you don't read fast, you will find it is fluffy and lost where you are heading.

Unfortunately many OKR examples are nothing more than tasks with deadlines. Every OKR should have at least 1 key result that *accurately* measures *outcomes* that prove that you're making progress towards the objective. Most Key Result examples of the book measure output - ones that you might see progress on, but don't necessarily contribute or lead to the objective at all. I feel sorry for the people who tried to implement OKRs with only this read, as they're likely to write OKRs that bring zero value to the company. I've seen teams that write OKRs that are 1-1 to epics or tasks, which provides visibility to things that might not be valuable at all. The greatest value I've got from the book was to learn stories from big tech companies.

I've worked on the Google campus for 11 years, and have seen first-hand the impact OKRs have had on the company. John Doerr is single-handedly responsible for bringing OKRs to Google. He saw before anyone else the transformative power Andy Grove's system from Intel could have at Google, and this book is a great window into those early days. John does a great job showing how that early presentation at Google set the stage for so much of the growth and success that came later. Some of the best parts of the book are the mini case studies from a variety of companies. One of the biggest complaints I hear from founders about OKRs is that it works for Google because, well, Google is *Google*. By letting you hear from founders in their own words - from small startups to fast-growth startups to non-profits - John makes it easy for the reader to model how OKRs could work at their company. It's not just Google: Doerr shows how any ambitious, outcome-oriented organization can benefit from implementing OKRs. Anyone who wants to understand what makes Silicon Valley tick will learn a lot from this book. So many of the giants from the last fifty years are captured in these pages – as relayed by John, their commitment and ambition shine through. John makes clear that they also shared an embrace of a simple framework for setting goals and communicating throughout their organization – which should be encouraging for any founder who wants to know how to build similarly effective organizations. (Disclaimer: a brief anecdote involving me is included in the book. I didn't tell John I was writing this review ahead of time - I bought the book last night and wanted to share my thoughts.)

Music is pleasant according to your tastes and what matters to you. There is an influence and soundtrack that manifests in enjoying a creation for aural and emotional pleasure. Music is defined by measures and therefore the concept of "Measure What Matters" underscores the importance of consistent focus. The focus should be about the "What" you want to achieve and specifically the "How" you will accomplish it. Through the well thought out examples and case studies clearly communicated by John Doerr, I felt his caring nature of the companies he has supported through this book. Peter Drucker emphasized "What gets measured gets done" John articulates the significance of the human approach to fulfill the need of growing exponentially and the magic tool to accomplish it. By following this formula you will succeed in any endeavor you choose to pursue, as evidenced in that Amazon is one of the many companies he founded and invested that has used this ideology. If you are a child, a student, a teacher, a parent, an apprentice, an entrepreneur, an accountability partner, an executive, an investor, a leader, just fill in the blank. Any industry can benefit from this man and I look forward to sharing with my friends in the entertainment, technology, sports and financial services industry. This book is about growth fulfillment and culture creation in a more predictable fashion. I hope this review serves you well, I plan on sharing with all the people I love because I espoused the same philosophy. By the way this book is TNBT.

This book provides several examples of OKR’s at work and how they have positively impacted the organization. It also walks through how to implement them.

Encourages you to write down your objectives and also results you want to accomplish in a quantifiable manner. Hold you and your teams accountable for the results. Great examples from several successful startups to Google and Intel

This entire book is a sales pitch for a method of managing by objectives (MBO). There are many good points, and some great examples, but the book just drags on and on. I feel like the book could have been 1/3 the size and not lost anything. Some of the history of Intel and other companies was interesting to read - especially since those stories were told by the people that lived them. There were valuable explanations for what goes wrong with certain types of top-down objectives, and how to set up objectives that are measurable, make people accountable, and help keep people aligned. One area I was hoping to see, but didn't, was an exploration of what a measurement is. In short, any time you ask about something, or talk about something, you are measuring it. In other words, there is formal and informal measurement. Another topic I was hoping to see was the odd phenomena of "that, which is measured, improves". I have found that even when there is no significant reward, and there is no significant punishment for meeting a particular metric, the mere act of measuring it regularly, and giving that measurement visibility, will still cause it to improve. The book talks about the importance of objectives being visible, but it is also important to keep everyones progress visible. One particular gem: Why the Intel 8086 processor architecture won over the superior Motorola 68000. I lived through that period in tech history, and the book's first-hand description from an Intel executive exactly matched what I recall as a desktop computer designer.

This book tell more story about how OKR was applied in google rather than a useful book to help to use OKR nicely

OKRs are preached across the silicon valley as a great tool to find order in chaos and focus the firm's energy to one singular task. I remember in a memoir of Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive mentions that Jobs would ask him how many times has Johnny said 'No' in a day - in order to have laser focus on critical things at hand. I like when business books show various flavors of application - which this book does. True to the nature of management- it is a discipline that spread across various industries - tech, entertainment, philanthropy etc. Measure What Matters, condenses Andy Grove's epic managerial methods, and presents them to the reader. John Doerr explains the key elements of this managerial framework by citing how the framework works for Google (Both Larry/Sergey and Sundar Pichai), Nuna, Remind , Gates Foundation etc. The Football example on setting cascading OKRs was epic (in the book)! Reading this book, it feels John is teaching you (like a professor) on a key managerial skill - "Set goals and measure them effectively". I loved reading this book - just to understand how Sundar or Jini were executing their ideas to come up with great products. "Execution is key"

I have always known that goals could help us move forward. What I did not realize then was how structured goal setting and its continuous conversation could transform culture, stretch team, and make tangible impact

At the end of the book, you'll find resources illuminating the entire process. I'd recommend beginning there and then returning to the start of the book. If you're not seeking to develop a goal setting system or company culture, this is a warste of your time.

This book really takes a deep dive into countless examples of how OKRs are essential for any real disruptor to grow and scale (aka Google). This book highlights all the factors that come into setting goals, why active group transparency is essential, why you must as much as possible put numbers to what matters. John makes an excellent case for having measurement systems in place, how it works for everybody (not just big tech like Google, YouTube and Intel), and why hitting your goals at 70% is better than hitting them 100% of the time.

The book is a very engrossing, especially that there isn't much boring theory in it. Instead it mainly focuses on real-world examples of implementing OKRs. It outlines all the pitfalls you can come across when working with OKRs but also maintains a healthy balance by admitting that using such a system will not be a remedy for all your company's troubles. It was explicitly stated in the book that it's not true, however I still consider this as an extension of Management by Objectives. OKRs just go a step further, they require you to show how your objective will actually bring an added value for the company. Personally, I don't fully agree with such an approach, as it promotes shortsightedness - only objectives that bring value to the company in short term are defensible - leaving little room for long-term evolution. But they certainly are useful for fledgling companies that in to keep everyone in check and focus all their limited resources on what can really keep them afloat. Nevertheless, I sincerely recommend the book for any manager dealing with setting goals.

As a long time management scholar (34 years in academia) I have to say that this is one of the best books on management I have ever read. A great deal of nonsense and hype has been written about organizational leadership. But Doerr gets right to the core issue--given that you have useful ideas, how do you actually get them implemented? He goes into enormous detail about the use of the OKR's (Objectives and Key Results) which he introduced to Google. He gives numerous examples of how they should be used to achieve success. Many case studies are described but the key point is that Doerr is not a one, narrow technique (hey, goals are good) guru. Rather he induces a set of principles that should be followed in the use of OKR's if success is to be attained. He first learned of this method at Intel and then shared his idea with more than 50 companies. He has worked both as an executive and a venture capitalist. He is firmly tied to the real world of business. If you want to know how to lead successfully, this should be your starting point.

OKR's sound simple but are actually quite challenging to be effective. They require a number of tries to get improvement. You need to champion them with your teams over a real period of time, eg 4-6 quarters or longer depending on your timelines. When they become ingrained they are a language amongst your team that creates clear measurement and understanding to goals. I have returned to this book again and again and bought copies for my entire leadership team across Asia. We implemented in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan and China. Buy this book for an effective way to systematically improve performance in your commercial team.

John Doerr did a good job explaining the mechanics of OKRs and how organizations can use them. At first it seems more suited to the development side of the house but once the relationship between Objectives and the Key Results is understood one can find it very effective. I'll be applying this methodology in my own organization. I will admit that the case studies started to feel a little labor some but not so much as to cause me to put the book down. I've already purchased multiple copies for my management team.

First, if you are new to OKRs or in the process of investigating them, buy and read this book. John's bona fides are beyond reproach and his proven success with the OKR process is legendary. The lineage of the process, going all the way back to Andy Grove is interesting and engaging. The book is mainly a collection of case studies. The good news is that these are stories and perspectives from people that have actually achieved success with the process. Each case study tends to focus on various attributes or elements, and each path to success was unique. If you are looking for a hands-on, how-to guide, this is not it. However, I would respectfully suggest that such a how-to guide would be of little use without the background provided in this book. Stronly recommend.

John Doerr’s reputation for business acumen was the reason for wanting to read the book. The variety of vignettes kept it interesting. He kept topic fresh with the use of other voices and it was not overly repetitive, which can plague business how to books. I gave him a four because he did not disclaim enough that most of the featured companies are in his portfolio. While I don’t believe his intent was to only promote them, the lack of transparency keeps the book from being worthy of a five. I have already recommended this book to a start-up CEO and a large company executive who are focused on unleashing their employees’ creativity and commitment. It is also a good read for anyone interested in understanding the perspective of one of the top business leaders in the US.

A great introduction to the origins of OKRs, followed by many examples of how companies and a nonprofit used OKRs to improve organizational effectiveness. For some weird reasons, I did not enjoy reading the examples very much. Probably because of a mismatch between the book title and my expectations. I was expecting more of a guide to defining great OKRs within an organization - more of a handbook or practical best practices kind of resource. Such as, how do you define KRs for a software development product? How do you balance between top-down and bottom-up ideas in the OKRs definition process? Etc. In the end, I felt that some of the examples, especially the OKRs in some of the examples, were lacking in terms of practical details. They were more like stories to demonstrate the versatility of OKRs. And some of the KRs did not seem very measurable to me. The resources at the end was useful. Overall, I felt that the book could have been more concise, and the resources at the end could be elaborated more.

Ordered this book as part of the LEM Evaluation system as work. I haven’t read it yet but at least I have it in my leadership library.

Enjoyed the book, examples were great, plenty to take from it. It’s breath would be the only issue, in it takes a lot of time to digest.

A great book! A must read! Nothing else to say. Just read it! You won’t regret for a minute. It has made me think about how I want to run my team and my personal life goals.

Very good book to show how an organization can draw best from people (as a team) by utilizing OKR. Especially I found the book valuable as it shares the real life stories from those who implemented OKR sharing how best OKR can be implemented and utilized (and including “how not to” based upon the learning). One of those books can not stop reading. I had a privilege to work for Intel when Andy was still at the top and this brought back a memory when I first read iMBO from one of SVPs. I was at the bottom of the organization but iMBO gave me a clear picture about the company’s priority. Also Intel indeed walked the talk re: title does not matter.

When I read reviews, I always start with the negative ones. As far as this book is concerned, the one-star reviews are right on the money. Writing this review is a little painful because I don't like criticizing someone's livelihood, but once I learned how automated, impersonal, and canned John's company's responses are to communications, I determined that the criticism if fair game. John needs to buy a book on customer service. The books spends about 10 pages teaching OKRs and the balance trying to sell the reader on how effective they are. The way to implement OKRs is not given in detail. Maybe you have to hire John's company to teach you. The truth is, goal setting is valuable. OKRs are all about setting goals. Therefore, if you haven't read a book on goal setting, this book may be useful. If you have studied, say, Zig Ziglar's goal setting materials, the only thing you will learn from this book is a neat way of visualizing goals - as OKRs. If your job is project-oriented (new product development, sales, performance), you may get some inspiration from Measure What Matters. If your job does not involve new projects, you're not mentioned. For what it's worth, I talked with a high-level person from Intel, and he had never heard of OKRs. Maybe John needs to go back over there and give them a refresher course. In any case, I'm not sorry I read the book, but I wish it were a lot better and more useful.

Despite the obnoxious self-aggrandizing writing style, the content and the idea of OKRs is powerful. Like any business book, or like a diet book, reading the book doesn't do anything unless you actually do the thing. Taking action will have impact.

It’s really well written book for beginners to learn fundamentals and learn some stories from companies that applied OKR and CFR.

Great book for product managers

Great lecture to get into okr's world, remarkable success cases. A must reading if you want to go deeper in problem solving and goal focus oriented mindset.

This is one of the most useful books on organizational execution that I've read. I recently joined a design team for company that uses OKRs to coordinate the team to focus on the most important company goals. I was impressed enough with the team that I bought to book to understand more about OKRs as a philosophy. I'm glad I did. This is very worthwhile read.

I like this book quite a bit and I bounced back-and-forth between reading it and the audible book. I thought the author did a great job with both. I really liked the way the author included the voices of some of the individuals he wrote about in the book. My one criticism is the same criticism that I have for most business books published today. These books could be so much more concise, but I suspect the publishers demand more content that turns into filler to warrant a higher price.

I appreciated the storytelling structure of the book. It demonstrated how OKRs have helped transform more than a few organizations that are well known and respected. It’s also what at times made it difficult to engage. I was expecting more of a manual for how to draft/measure OKRs as my company is now using this system but you had to distill the lesson from the story so give yourself more time to engage with the messaging. I found the info super valuable nonetheless.

Terrific book about how to set goals in a very organized and structured way that allows us to objectively measure our success in attaining those goals. Several examples of succesful enterprises that have implemented the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) system illustrate in an entertaining way how powerful it can be. Nonetheless, the book is repetitive at times. Many of the stories portrayed illustrate the same points again and again. They are pleasant to read, but after some time, don't add that much value to the concepts they are intended to help explain.

I implemented OKR back in 2016, and failed. I understand why I failed by reading this books. OKR sound very simple, but in practice it is accompanied with a lot more details. This books will definitely help you to implement OKR in your organization. I particularly like the examples and the reference on how Google does OKR. I’m rating it 4 because I feel that Doerr do to much effort on selling the OKR. It will be more helpful to understand when it works and when it doesn’t.

The book could have been more precise. But it gives a very simple way of aligning in a team and a company. A way to choose the right battles and let everyone contribute and not be 'managed' in a waterfall approach. The approach appears to be something that could be used for anything and not just a team's performance. Some example where people have used this method in a non-professional setup would have been very informative and useful.

Common sense, but very well organized with many ideas on how to mechanize.

Bought for work, will do formyself, need everyone to do to be effective, takes huge lift

OKR insights are great, case studies are not that value addition.

This book is good at explaining the history of OKRs and sharing some success stories. It is NOT a user’s manual for how to use OKRs within your organization, and I wish that it was.

The case studies make this a very relevant business book to read. It makes the significant value of OKR's as a method to manage absolutely indisputable. It is a must read for a CEO of a company, a manager of a department or an individual managing their own activities. But the greatest benefits to a company are achieved when the OKR system is adopted company-wide because it encourages individuals to perform as a team with objectives and results visible to all.

The content is great. But the book is a little broken.

This book is incredibly good, and is a must read for all managers. Management is a learned skill, and if you haven't had the opportunity to work with talented leaders, this book will provide the foundational elements of focusing a business, regardless of its size, and developing an enlightened form of management that will enable start ups to start up right, and continue to grow by bypassing the plateauing that inevitably happens when the company grows past its entrepreneurial stage. OKRs are designed to simply and efficiently capture the essence of the business in terms of goals, and enables the transparency, accountability, and performance required by companies to survive in an increasingly ultra-competitive market place. A must read.

I loved the examples at Intel, Google, Bono, Bill and Melinda Gate's foundation. But the book could've been shorter and more precisely structured

Great insight into the use of OKRs at a variety of companies and the history of how they came to be. I can see how the principles can apply not only to business, but to people’s personal lives as well.

I love reading books on business and the different perspectives but a lot of them tend to have key principles that are useful but specific steps aren’t given to enact those principles within your own company. This book has so much value and then after sharing that value it presents a methodology to use inside your own company right away. I am already excited to print out the notes and take action right away. Thank you so much for a great read, I highly recommend.

On one hand you can't put it down. On the other hand, you need to take time to visualize implementing what you've read. And just when you say to yourself "OK, I have the premise now", you'll add another layer as ingeniously fundamental as the one before. I've bought multiple copies now to share with colleagues & fellow entrepreneurs. I simply can't recommend enough to business owners, managers and aspiring leaders.

Break out how to set your objectives and key results. Good explanations and cases about how different scenarios can be used in different places. Adopted some of the practices immediately for our workplace in connection with our standard DevOps and Scrum mindset.

I have a decent sized business - 278 staff. I highly recommend this book to any biz owner that wants to grow and push themselves and their teams to higher and higher achievements. I got so many crazy good ideas that I was able to immediately implement using what I learned in this book. Its about Goal setting and accountability and production - I just loved it.

Similar to something my company was already using but the extra understanding and insight will help me unlock a lot more value from the tools, getting better buy in and more alignment across teams

I read this book because it was recommended by Bill Gates. While I firmly believe in OKRs as a sound practice, the way they're presented in this book are dry, soulless, unimaginative, and overly complicated. If you want to learn about OKRs, I would reccomend Grove's "High Output Management." In that book, you'll find the same concept, put more eloquently. What makes Grove's book more useful is that it contextualizes structured goal-setting within a set of other managerial practices that are practical, vital and well-explained. There was also something incredibly creepy in this book. Doerr describes how he got his job at Intel. "This all began with an ex-girlfriend I was trying to win back. Ann had dumped me and was working in Silicon Valley, but I didn't know where." Doerr describes moving to Silicon Valley, though he had no job and no place to live. After being turned down for several jobs, he applies to Intel and gets accepted. "As luck would have it, I found my ex-girlfriend there too, working just down the corridor. She was not amused when I showed up." Happily for Doerr and Ann, they later get back together and eventually wed. But the implication here - that getting hired at the same company as an ex, for the purpose of "winning them back" - is an OK thing to do is really gross, and borders on stalking. Most of what made the book bad was the dry writing, with the creepy stalker-ish moment being the crusty dingleberry on top. If you're looking for other books about how to run a company, in addition to Grove's book, "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" and "Radical Candor" are wonderful. Good lukck!

This is definitely in my top 5 books ever! This book changed my view of goal-setting and is changing my approach to it now. I’m excited to use the practical steps this book encourages to serve my business, my clients, and my coworkers! So glad I picked this up!

This book is in my top 5 book list for business. Good Profit, Innovators Solution, Good to Great, Questions that sell. Round out the 5. The number of examples from established companies and foundations makes this great. Worth reading for the Intel Operation Crush story alone. I have worked for large and small companies , I have never seen goal setting explained like this. I go back to this book frequently because the examples help me understand if my goals and objectives are set correctly to get the team to respond and achieve.

This is a good book by John Doerr, telling stories of his experiences in startups or well-established companies and the importance of the process of goal setting, communicating and measuring progress/completion (Objectives and Key Results – OKR). He credits the OKR idea to Andy Grove, legendary CEO of Intel. The book describes several examples of OKR implementations and its importance. One of the findings is the importance of company culture to create an environment of candor and transparency to bring problems and weaknesses to the surface in order to deal with them. Great read, it is applicable to everything we do!

A jewel! One of the few books that kept me engaged from cover to cover. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to grow 10X within a company or as an entrepreneur. John Doerr did an amazing job with this work. This is not just theory, but based on real life experiences of people and companies that are still growing at a 10X rate. I highlighted and put notes all over my copy. I'm keeping it as a reference.

I received feedback from peers that this was a great book and different than the rest. Turns out, like most other help books, it is very repetitive, full of stories to take up space, and has very little actual content. What's there is decent and could have been written in 1/4 of the space.

I have been a people manager, team leader and executive for 20+ years, and this is one of the most inspirational books I have read in a long time. Looking forward to putting this to use with my team.

I love the simplicity but power of OKR concept. It is proven by the success of many giant companies. I do not like the KPI, but I still need something to help me with Goals Setting. OKR is a perfect match for that. When reading the book, "hey I can do that" immediately came to my mind. It means that the concept is easy to be understood, and sound doable. If someone is looking for a way to improve life, business, I would suggest this book immediately. I have applied OKR in my personal development for 3 months.

I’m giving this book 5 stars more for its inspirational value. I picked up a number of ideas on how to level up OKRs in my organization and in what’s worked for others. But like most books with a thesis, it feels like a lot of confirmation bias. There were no stories (well one, maybe a little bit, before the turn around) about companies failing while using OKRs or the pitfalls and problems. Even so, it’s worth a read to see what’s working for others and the key pieces that are critical to success.

Despite many management practices the book mentioned sounds straightforward, it is truly great to hear from someone about how challenging it is to implement them. The book provides many practical guidance.

I read Doerr's new book, "Measure What Matters" in one sitting and highlighted the items that could pertain to my business. This book is destined to become a business classic because of its potency and elegant simplicity. We business managers are always running around trying to figure out what to measure and then we go on to measure something else, which always creates employee confusion. Doerr has a better, simpler way of setting objectives and measuring them - with buy-in from all staffers. This instills discipline, which, in turn, leads to goals being met. Brilliant.

One of the best business books ever. Many books have excellent ideas from fantastic authors. What makes John Doerr different is that he gives, hard, fast rules exactly what to do and how to apply it to any business - from independent one person operations to dozens or even hundreds of employees. He is honest enough to give experiences where a business failed to implement correctly...where was the error, and how they corrected it. Read the free teaser. That will tell you if this book is worth it.

I read over 100 books a year. Between being an author and podcast host, books are kind of my world. This was hands down one of the most useful books I've read in 2018. It forced me to take a look at how I was spending my time and what the people on my team were prioritizing. Even though I couldn't directly relate to all of the interviews, there was a nugget in each one that I found valuable. Considering how many successful companies and individuals use this process, it's worth learning about.

What you'll take away is a clear understanding of strategic planning for the real world people who want to make things happen across their company. You'll finally find a planning and execution template that is straightforward, simple and usable by any size company. Of course, applying this "simple approach" is going to take time and understanding, adjustment and refinement but it is a killer way to get everyone on the same page and headed in the right direction... Highly recommended.

This is a boring book. I read till page 102 then had to quit. He talks about OKRs then a bunch of people start giving testimonials on how great they are. No real content here. The bad reviews are spot on. Not sure why it is so highly rated. Also, much of the content is basically plagiarized Andy Grove methodology. Money would be better spent on Andy Grove books. Lastly, when you read the forward by Larry Page, it is very uninspiring and really seems like he is just scribbling something down as a favor to a friend. Total waste of writing.

Save yourself the money by knowing. If you measure things you will be more successful… no way?! I was hoping to know what to measure nope!

The book has some good content, however some chapters are very boring that as you're reading you start to think of other things while reading. In summary, the book goes as interesting stories to boring to interesting to boring to interesting etc...Learned a little from this book.

I like the book for the content and clear language. It does not have latest approaches but it is acceptable.

It help you to stay focus and evaluate your priority... Great book... It define goal setting and use the goal to motivate people... Nice

A profound concept. A must read.

It is amazing how many companies fail to follow OKR concepts which could really alleviate a lot of the communication, productivity, and political throes of companies; specifically very large enterprises like the one I work for where people in the same organization are not aligned on their KPIs. The one thing missing for me were failed implementations of OKRs and why?

Thus book is a must have for any leader who wants to lead with a crips focus and exceptional humility. The stories shared in the book are very motivating and engaging.

This book is about Optimizing Life, summarized as "living by design". Strategic planning with relentless focus is needed recipe for success!

The simplicity of the OKR system is amazing, however, the execution of the OKR process is not

This book has inspiered me and my team to tryout new methods of achieving our goals. Though a proven method, the author explains his methods for achieving his great results.! Really should be on your top 10!

...But this was a great book, really appreciated the deep dive into committed OKRs, aspirational OKRs and CFRs (conversations, feedback and recognition). An objective can be as ambitious as "becoming the leading Healthcare SAAS company in the world" but it needs to be matched with the appropriate quantitative and time-based KRs (key results) that when achieved, will accomplish the overall objective. OKRs can be annual, quarterly or monthly but the most important thing is they make sense across the organization.

Dozens, if not hundreds of new trade press business titles are published each year. Most of them are eminently forgettable. Occasionally, one comes along that should be around for a few years before becoming dated. More rare still are the ones that should remain relevant for decades. This is one of the latter ones. This one is definitely a "must read."

One of the very good books I read recently. This is more of a handbook than a strategic business or management book. Most of the things in book you are already aware but the author has packed them nicely to apply in your business or personal life as needed.

This book should have been 20 pages long

Book presentation so far so good, haven't read yet, but eager to know the OKR method!

The core idea of OKRs is interesting and relatively simple - carefully set a small number of broad high-priority objectives, create measurable smaller goals to accomplish them, share them, and follow up in them. There are a few hundred more pages of chest-pounding war stories about commitment and startup heroism and changing the world by optimizing engagement etc etc etc. The section of the book on replacing performance reviews with commitment, feedback and conversations (he calls it the CFR process) felt frustratingly vague. Hating on performance reviews is pretty common, and there are certainly better ways of compensating and evaluating and growing employees, but the advice boiled down to “don’t do the bad thing, try a good thing instead!” I think I learned things from the book, but reading it was frustrating and vague. If you want to learn about the core idea of OKRs, read the first few chapters. If you want lots of vague pump-up stories about how OKRs will magically help you, read the rest, but it didn’t do much for me.

Practical guide to individual and company goal setting, goal monitoring, and goal grading. I would've given it five stars but their were too many stories.

I had no idea what OKRs were prior to reading this book. As a trained project manager, I generally gravitated towards hard numbers ie budget, time, etc. OKRs are entirely different, while traditional measurements are helpful, OKRs help you remain focus and have a whole team committed to the goals.

The book covers OKRs, how they developed, are used, and adjusted over time. It uses multiple examples in many industries. It’s a not a long read and I found useful for thinking about taking large projects and breaking them out into small goals.

Excellent introduction into the world of performance alignment and stretch goal development. Measure what you want to drive, and drive those initiatives to stretch the organization to superior performance. A must read for any leader seeking to build a high performance culture. To note, this is not a cookbook to OKRs but provides the case to sell the process. Excellent starting point on the journey with OKRs.

However, the last chapter ends too soon that I cannot have summarized takeaways from these stories, it would be good to extend with some takeaways suggested.

This is one of the best books I've read on leadership in organizations. The approach makes a lot of sense and is very practice. Also, the book is very engaging both through Mr. Doerr's writing style and through the individual chapters on other leaders' perspectives who have implemented his approach. This book is a gift to leaders and is a must read.

Good read - really hammers out an effective method of goal setting.

This book has proven to be a practical guide in setting goals. Easy read. Practical recommendations.

OMG, buy this book if you need help getting your stuff together with a business. I had such clarity which I desperately needed even after the first couple chapters. It makes you empowered to make decisions and create plans to actually move your work forward, not drowning in endless busy work that doesn't get you anywhere closer to meeting your goals. It's relatable, entertaining and applicable to pretty much any organization size.

A convincingly presented explanation of a sensible and proven approach to setting and aligning goals throughout an organisation in a way that motivates individuals and enables the achievement of the most audacious goals.

Whether you are a start up company or an established business there are sound principles on how to create criteria to manage the growth of the business. It is an easy read with not to complex business concepts. For me it was a good read.

I’ve been using OKR for over 3 years now, and they’re a wonderful method of bringing sanity to chaos, in both setting where you have everything to build from scratch (as in our fintech startup, Quod), as well as where sheer complexity and size requires a good alignment and communication tools with thousands of people. I really hope I had known it sooner.

Doerr refers to himself as the ‘Johnny Appleseed’ of OKRs, evangelizing Andy Groves systematic application of Drucker’s thinking. This book is a good explanation of the thinking behind it as well as a guide to its application. I recommend.

This book has made an immediate impact on my career and business. I suspect this book has learnt me a skill that I will carry through my whole life. Sure there is a lot a will still learn, but it has given me direction and energy. Where I have implemented OKR's, improvement and success followed. I like things that work, and what John Doerr teaches, works.

Product received as expected in a timely amount of time.

It is great book to understand the concept and practice of OKR's.

Such a well written book that you immediately know it’s written by an experienced, thoughtful, insightful, conceptually strong yet execution-focused PRACTITIONER. A wide arrays of case studies along with testimonials of rock star practitioners make this a indispensable introduction book to OKR. Definitely will install it to various initiatives that I am engaged in!

Sirve para tener una perspectiva diferente sobre el manejo anual de los indicadores de una empresa, cualquiera sea el mercado en el que opera. Me gustó mucho la propuesta de revisiones trimestrales simples pero de gran impacto.

Beneficial book not only to understand OKR but also how to implement it in business and get results out of them. It is recommended for people into analytics and how to use them to understand their own company better.

I love this book. It’s well written and interesting. John Doerr has both the experience and the ability to communicate this in a way that is understandable and motivating. It is now required reading for all of my team at Project CURE.

It’s a good read. Possibly will not tell you what you don’t know already but it will help you better rationalize things you know already. Also the stories around multiple start ups also make it an engaging read.

I am a 22 year old entrepreneur and am used to having people recommend complex goal-setting strategies to me that probably don't fit with where our team is at. In contrast, the beauty of Measure What Matters is that it's such a simple concept that can be adapted to whatever our company's situation may be. I highly recommend this book!

I’m surprised to see this book rated and recommended so highly. The concept, using OKRs to measure and align performance at scale, is excellent. This book is a mess. Doerr skips all over the place with conclusive stories about OKRs and buried the “how”. One chapter is about early Google, which found OKRs and suddenly became successful. Then you’re with Intel in the late 70s, who emerged successful over Motorola because OKRs. Doerr’s stories generally boil down to: step 1) make OKRs; step 3) the entire company dominates the competition. And many stories have a disorienting pattern of starting with a problem (e.g., Intel had a lot of competition), telling you the problem was solved by OKRs, then repeating that same issue > solution via another vignette on the same company in the same setting. OKRs are great and corporate leaders should be aware of them. This is not the resource I’d recommend to build that awareness.

I bought this book since it was recommended by Bill Gates. Main synopsis of this book is that as company’s grow, they become too large and disorganized. If companies don’t prioritize and employees don’t know their main objectives and don’t measure their key results then it will eventually fail or slowly decline. Pretty much it brags about Andy Grove and Bill Campbell all thru the book with very little examples. The book has some useful tools in the end.

Este libro presenta el cómo y el por qué implementar el sistema de OKRs en las organizaciones, viene con varios casos prácticos de empresas que implementaron este sistema.

It is a bit repetitive with examples but it is a great book to get to know about OKRs and how to implement them in your organization no matter how big or small

There are many management books that actually fail to deliver any value to a reader. “Measure what matters” - is full of inspirational stories and handful insights. If you’re a leader or company executive, OKRs will give you a simple and flexible management toolkit to align your subordinates with company goals and drive your team to the bright future.

I liked the audiobook so much I bought the paper version. This book is amazing! John Doerr does a great job of explaining how to find what is important and using it to drive efforts. Making things transparent so thr organization can all work towards them helps accomplish big, hair, audacious goals.

Goal settings and kpi tracking is becoming more challenging in the notifications economy. This book lays down the way forward.

For freelancers it's a book of inspiration, for seeing the nuance in OKRs and how companies have used them internally for operational excellence. I'm just a creative freelancer, but I can see how to use them for my own freelance purposes, and should I ever want to scale to hiring employees and growing in my space.

The principles in this book are very actionable. I’m beginning to reply them with my team and I’m actually reinvigorated and excited by the work. I highly recommend this book. The resources at the end of the book summarizing the points of the book and implementation are incredibly useful to reference.

The book worth every penny. OKRs helps organization to focus on what is important and gives a simple tool to align the whole organization to pursue its goals

Everything needs to have a numerical value so you can measure your progress and results. They have some great case studies of real life companies big and small using the method. Great read.

This is by far the best business book I have read in years! It is so clear and forthcoming that I started using OKR’s halfway through reading the book. I am excited to see the results. With starting a new leadership role and wanting to improve the culture this was the perfect read.

OKR is a universal goal management method. No matter which industry you work in, profit or not-for-profit, church, school, start-up or mature business, you will find immediate and lasting value in this approach. Doerr does a great job of explaining how it works, and the case studies are relevant and recent. Highly recommended.

Must read book for all industry starting from regular employees to higher ranking executives, you would learn not only OKR but multiple management best practices which you would be missing now. Success comes with a price and it can be as straight forward as having a well defined OKR system.

I have read this book at least three times now and continue to gain insight and wisdom as a leader. It was a great read from a non-profit perspective and I have implemented pieces of the Google framework in our organization mary@ndspn.com

It's an insightful book which teaches me how to think differently by applying the lens of JTBD. With almost every business turning to subscription-based, JTBD is even more important in continuously learning the JTBD of the customers and how their progress evolves. I highly recommend this book to all entrepreneurs and product managers.

This book is jammed with great information but quickly gets boring with the repetitive story of "OKRs are great, everyone is doing it after I met with them". Would have been a stronger, professional read if: it was more concise, focused on use cases only, and for those use cases, tell a more detailed story of alignment and success vs "everyone was immediately onboard with OKRs". I stopped reading halfway through - couldn't take it anymore.

This isn't just some author. This is THE guy at the center of the major Silicon Valley Success Stories, straight out of Andy Grove's amazing success at Intel and applied over and over with Google and others. What a great chance to learn from the Master.

As you can see I devoured this book. It cannot be overstated that this is such a game changer. I really appreciated that it was written by someone in the trenches with an enormously successful track record and not some Facebook motivational guru. Thanks John! Will continue to re-read this over and over and over.

Great Product!

This is a great book and an amazing read. John Doerr does an excellent job explaining how the various companies and organizations used OKR’s

The focus that comes with setting clear and understandable objectives is remarkable, but once you add measurable results to the mix it becomes a powerful tool for guiding every decision you will make in business and life. And as an added bonus, say goodbye to decision fatigue!

Fascinating read about a transformative way to approaches business and well life. Although a bit redundant at times the repetition was good for me to cement my understanding.

This is a great book! I like the way it focuses in on what's truly important in a company. Too many times organizations focus on non-business items and end up taking their eye off the ball. This zeros in on what you need to know. It's easy to read and well-written.

This is one of the most useful management books I have ever read. The principles when applied will have a significant impact on your business.

Although I knew some of the pieces and the general ideas of what John Doerr writes, he successfully encapsulates the principles into a framework that makes complete sense, especially if you belong to an organization that often find itself trying to objectively prioritize work and quantify success or failure.

wonderfully written and a must read for OKR alignment

Very powerful! Stories from different leaders across different market sectors that help to enhance the concept of OKR’s. I strongly recommend it !!

Excellent book on using Objectives and Key Results as a way to keep your company on target and moving forward. Any business manager should read this.

Very insightful book to those not well versed in OKR and top-down-bottom-up enterprise planning and prioritization. I listened to audible and loved it since different people were brought in to read

Great book. Essential reading for everyone! Excellent case studies and examples. This book is the best business book that I have read. This book is very interesting and insightful and very useful for everyone.. The book is real world and a transformational book. I recommend this book without qualifications for everyone.

John Doerr gives very practical advice and examples of how OKRs work and how can them be used to leverage business performance.

This book should be a staple for both future and established business leaders. OKR's and CFR's provide a clear path to setting and achieving the most inspired to the most trivial goals businesses and teams pursue. John's storytelling and experience made this book tough to put down

A really intriguing look at pro ductivity. Many examples of leading Tech Firms using OKRS to achieve much sucess !

I became interested in OKR’s after watching John Doer’s Ted Talk. It was great and thought this would help me set my goals for my team. Bought the book and found the Ted Talk was all I needed. The stories are great to fill in some of the gaps but I just needed “meat and potatoes”.

OKRs are great framework for many organizations. I believe that any person in management must make himself familiar with it. However, this book is not the best way to do it. It mostly consists of motivational success stories that provides little value. I found that appendixes at the end of the book turned out to be more valuable then the book itself.

My fiancé and I read this book and immediately began applying OKR’s to our business. This system brings the chaos of our business into an order that we can measure and feel more confident charging forward. I am excited to see the progression of our OKR’s over time.

OKR's are not new. I thought the value of this book was that it reminded everyone that it takes oversight, assessment and the ability of adjusting. It was a good reminder.

good book

I first watched the video on Ted Talks then purchased this book and worked with my team of Six Leaders to implement the OKR - PPP concept and it has galvanised the team. This book is a great starting point

Perfect business book: concise yet clear a OKR playbook, inspiring stories and very “warm”, non-confrontational narrative. Highly recommended to those who study the subject.

The idea and comment around OKRs is fantastic, and I believe it will in some ways be life changing for me... But this book was difficult to get through because points are dragged out and reiterated to the point of nausea. I think this book could be half or a third of the length and still get the points across.

I bought this as a birthday gift for my boyfriend. After starting the first chapter, he couldn't put it down! I'm usually not interested in this kind of stuff, but I may read it myself - from what he has told me, it's amazing!

What an amazing tool for getting mental/biz chaos under control. What an amazing author - he knows how to get an idea through. Yep, let’s teach this at all schools like the Khan Lab School in Palo Alto.

A worthwhile and important read for anyone seeking to make a big impact in corporate or philanthropic life; John Doerr infuses the art and science of OKRs with plenty of great examples from leading organizations. Also really enjoyed the Bill "Coach" Campbell chapter. Highly recommend.

Great book. Great process to improve business performance.

I don’t like “management books”. Usually same old in new wrapper. This is different. Some principles are as old as Noah planning the ark. But the way to think of them and process them kept my brain cooking.

+ loved the mix of the theory and real stories to bring it to life + good pace through-out and interesting read to improve: - summarise examples of good OKR at end of book , showing how they evolved over pace of a year

Great great book, used the framework in it after first read, to great effectiveness! Its simple to explain and can provide laser focus and internal transparency to any organization. This should be the book on best-practice management.

recommended for any stage of any business

Such a good book. If you use OKRs you likely don’t realize you’re using them wrong. This book clears that up

I work at a startup and this book really showed me what to do and what not to do. Consider this a bible for early start up goal setting.

This is an indispensable book for every business owner-manager. John Doerr’s management system (OKRs), containing the ideas of the legendary Andy Grove, explains step-by-step how OKR’s can work for your business, and personal life as well, becoming everyone interested a better manager, a brilliant leader.

Recommended to any leader to get the company moving forward. There are nice examples of what / how, hence the framework is very simple, it helps to set it right away.

This book has changed the way I look at goal setting forever. There are no better ways to set goals than OKR’s, in my opinion. Can’t wait to implicate these into my business and personal life

It's rare that a book has me reviewing past experiences and thinking about how to do new ones. This one has... I'm mostly thinking about work, but I can see how this would also change my personal life as well.

Is extremely effective in explaining OKRs and how they work, as well as pitching you on why you should use them at your company. A lot of meaningful stories/testimonials that leave you wanting to implement OKRs wherever you work immediately

best business book I have read in a decade! You can apply many aspects of this book immediately to help you and your team drill down and focus on the big movers. Would recommend for any business leader.

The biggest difference for me between KPIs and OKRs is that the OKRs really cause you to focus, and they area a great discipline for applying the cultural transformation work The Pacific Institute.

This is a great book for anyone in business. It can even help you in your personal life. I lived it with John at Intel and bought these books for my kids.

This book is much more than a simple goal setting framework. It discusses common pitfalls and nuances in goal setting and takes the reader inside many of the leading institutions that set goals successfully.

It is an inspiring and factual read which enabled me to identify what goes well or not in my own job and the company I work for. it gives you an insight on what made these companies successfull

The concept is a good one and I like the shorter term focus (quarterly) but the book fails to cover how you make this actually work in a large organization. Specifically, how do you link all the OKR's (a dependency matrix?), how do you make sure people up and down the chain agree on what the objectives actually mean (basic alignment on definitions), how do you update 10000+ of these and what support system is required? I agree with another review this could have been a much shorter book. Disappointed as the start was promising.

A straightforward explanation of one approach to developing a corporate culture. Based heavily on what worked for Intel Corporation in its early stages. Somewhat simplistic approach to a very difficult problem faced by many corporations. I found the book generally useful but not especially inspiring or unique.

Gave good insight to how great companies manage their day to day and future goals and aspirations. Provides details on what is need but also how to create an environment that's progressive, productive and collaborative.

This book is of great value to any manager, entrepreneur, or even public servant. The theory of the OKR method is presented in a straight forward but entertaining manner, with examples from real case studies.

Game changer of a read. Can’t wait to implement some of these concepts and principles. Super easy-read with nuggets abound. A must-read for any leader; biz-leader, family leader, communicate leader or heck just a leader of self.

Very useful review of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and how to use them. many stories from their use in high profile businesses as well if you find illustrative examples helpful.

Certainly modern and relevant with the meat and evidence and proven results to show what's possible. The great stories help paint the picture of the broad applicability of the approach and discipline.

Whether you’re in the trenches of a startup, leader of of a 30 year old company, or a stay at home parent, this book brings so much value to those who are willing to implement their own OKR’s.

Impossible to improve if you dont know what to measure. When everybody has the same challenging objective thing flow easy, everybody pushes the same way and surprises appear. Exponential results without a doubt.

Could have boiled it down to 50 pages. An awful lot of examples, but the core “how to” was pretty slim.

We are using OKRs (for annual & quarterly goal setting) for the first time at work, and I need to learn what they are all about and how to write my own.

Determining OKRS from Mission to Objectives (stretch and committed) to key results by cycle quarterly and annually) with top-down and bottom-up OKRs can drastically lower company inefficiency and dramatically raise employee engagement and buy in...

Good book overall. However, the company examples are repetitive. After reading several, I found myself skipping over them to read the chapters that really matter.

I am on my second startup and can say the OKR approach addresses a lot of management and cultural challenges. This book gives you 75% of what you need to get going, including indispensable first-hand insights.

It kind of repeats itself at some point but the message is great

Excellent book

This book is a great piece on management. It shows how setting key results can turn around performance in an entity.

This is a better way to look at aligning people in organizations large and small and a way to aim at some really strong aspirational objectives.

This is a must-have for anyone in business, nonprofit or educational leadership. And ironically, halfway through the book I ran into John Doerr in an elevator. Fan-girled out. He was lovely.