OKR, Helping You Embrace an Uncertain Future

When it comes time for year-end reviews, we often find that the goals we set at the beginning of the year may not be challenging enough to reflect our hard work, or that the goals we set at the beginning of the year are no longer meaningful because the external environment has changed. The article "Performanceism ruined Sony" by former Sony Managing Director Seruyoshi Tengai, which was widely circulated in the industry, stirred up widespread controversy, with opinions and voices of support and opposition that have not ceased to be heard so far. Did Sony fail to truly understand KPIs? Apparently not. Judging from the phenomenon described in the article alone, you will realize that it is the performance appraisal that is the cause, and it is a phenomenon that exists in the vast majority of companies. If you also have the same confusion, this article mentioned the OKR tool, may be able to effectively solve your problem.

What the hell is OKR?

We can easily find the following information about OKR:

OKR is the initial letter of Objectives and Key Results, i.e., the Objectives and Key Results method, which is a brand new management concept that has made a big splash on the Internet nowadays and was proposed by Intel, and then utilized by Google to the fullest extent. A few years ago, Google employees organized a "startup OKR template" released online, once in the entrepreneurial circle caused a big stir.

Why use OKRs?

It is a management and communication tool that helps align company-wide goals and emphasizes a bottom-up approach to work, fully mobilizing employee ownership and self-drive.

How to develop OKR?

The development of OKR must be able to support the strategic planning of the enterprise, in the process of developing OKR, it is necessary to pay attention to the following points:

1, the goal set to be ambitious, beyond a little bit of ability to range the best;

2, the goal is generally not more than five, each goal corresponding to the Key Results no more than 4;

3, Key Results to have a deadline, and can be quantified;

4, the company's scope to achieve more than 60% of the goals are proposed from the bottom up;

5, all the goals set should be staff and management **** with the acceptance of.

The difference between OKR and KPI

OKR gives us the first feeling that: this is not KPI 么, in fact, not. KR is changing every quarter, is always to continue to communicate, and KPI can not be changed every time before the assessment, right? So the application of OKR to manage performance is to change the focus of performance management from the module of "appraisal" to "communication and counseling" and "help find your O". In the past, basic employees didn't have to think about "how I'm going to do it", they just had to think about "what I'm going to do". But in this day and age, companies need their employees to think positively and individually

"How should I do it", so there are OKRs, and in OKRs, we give all kinds of "good examples" to tell employees how they should do it, so that's how it works. In OKR, we give various "good examples" to tell employees how to do, so this is the KR, and through this KR to get a what kind of results, you can use the KPI or OKR tool for assessment.

So OKR should be on top of KPI, as follows:

First determine the O, then decompose the KR from the O, and then use the KPI or Milestone form to express the KR. there is a detail need to pay special attention to: the KR of the OKR can be the KPI, or the Milestone, why is this? This brings us to the key point:

OKR requires KR to be measurable, which translates to "measurable", whereas KPI requires "quantifiable" indicators, which means that the measurement method is more extensive and can be "Quantitative" measurement indicators KPI, can also be "milestone" type of measurement.

What does OKR look like?

For example, in order to improve the product experience in a certain quarter, the head of a department of a web company put forward the following goals and key results:

O: Increase the visitor-to-retention conversion rate of the product to 5%

KR1: Revamp the signup process to increase the signup conversion rate to 30%;

KR2: Increase the 30-day retention rate of the app to 45%;

KR2: Increase the 30-day retention rate of the app to 45%;

KR2: Increase the 30-day retention rate of the app to 45%. day retention rate to 45%;

KR3: Go live with the HR app.

Maybe you're getting a sense of why it's OKRs, not KPIs anymore. If not, there's no rush, let's see what kind of era we're in first, shall we?

Thinking Change in the Age of Big Data

After reading The Age of Big Data, we know this much about the data of the future world:

? More ...... Not random samples, but plenary data

? More mixed ...... Not precision, but confounding

? Better ...... Not causality, but correlation

We have always been accustomed to thinking of statistical sampling as the solid cornerstone upon which modern civilization is built. But statistical sampling was created less than a hundred years ago to solve specific problems that existed at a specific time when technology was limited. We can still use sample analysis in certain specific situations, but it is no longer the main way we analyze data. Slowly, as technology evolves, we will abandon sample analysis altogether.

Instead, by applying correlations to analyze the whole body of data, while preserving the confounding of the data, we can analyze things more easily, conveniently, and clearly than ever before. We don't need to know the cause and effect, just the correlation. This gives a truer picture of the interrelationships between things.

Our traditional KPI design comes from analyzing the cause and effect of events, and based on experience, we think that a certain indicator will definitely have an effect on the target result. In fact, the point we are focusing on is probably not that important in the future. So we need to look at the big picture and be results-oriented, and that's one of the main differences between OKR and KPIs.

An uncertain future

The black swan has not yet flown away, and we have ushered in the "gray rhino". The concept of gray rhinos was first introduced in the book Gray Rhinos: How to Deal with Probabilistic Crises.

In the book, Michelle used the two-ton gray rhino as a metaphor for potential crises with a high probability of occurrence and a huge impact. Compared to the unpredictability and eventuality of black swan events, gray rhinoceros events are not random emergencies, but rather probabilistic events that occur after a series of warning signals and indications. They have appeared in various fields of society, such as the financial crisis triggered by the outbreak of the real estate bubble in the United States in 2008, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which resulted in about 1,800 deaths, and the digital marketing that has overturned the traditional media in recent years; all of these influential events have shown obvious signs before they started to detonate. And whether they are black swans or gray rhinos, they are relevant to the current era, and we need to be able to anticipate and resolve crises.

So how to face these uncertainties?

Returning to our theme, OKRs are constantly adjusted compared to KPIs; it is difficult for organizations to adapt to a rapidly changing environment if they don't actively adjust their focus on their goals.

Read here, and then think about it, in the fast-developing electronics industry, how many companies because of the rigid indicators and slow response to be eliminated? And what makes the Internet industry able to invade traditional industries? I am afraid that it is not just a matter of technology and talents here. In my opinion, what we need to do is to adapt to the latest trends, the use of OKR to performance management, and actively face the uncertain future.

After reading this article, do you have a deeper understanding of OKR?

After reading this article, do you have a better understanding of OKR?