Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
by John Doerr
Related videos
11:52
Author gives advice about goal-setting in TED format + slides
2.1M
33K
Jul, 2018
Spoiler:
Doerr focuses his presentation on OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results. The idea behind OKRs, which the author says are like “a vaccine against fuzzy thinking,” is to set clear and aspirational objectives and define measurable results that indicate progress (or lack thereof) toward those goals.
While OKRs need a why, a what, and a how, Doerr thinks of OKRs as “transparent vessels” made from the whats and hows of our goals; what really matters is the “why” that we pour into that vessel.
8:46
Key ideas from the book, explained in animated format
349K
8K
Sep, 2018
Spoiler:
The goal-setting system called OKR (for Objectives and Key Results) has been used extensively by Google since its founding and has attracted people from all walks of life, including rock star Bono, who called the system “A frame to hang your passions on.” When setting the Objective, your goals should be audacious and idealistic, set in the same spirit JFK showed when he said Americans were going to go to the moon not because it was easy but because it was hard.
65:47
Sal Khan in extensive conversation with John Doerr + slides
51K
650
Oct, 2018
Spoiler:
Defining in-depth the terms that make up the widely-used goal-setting system known as OKRs (acronym for Objectives and Key Results), the author says that good Objectives are inspirational, long-lived, and action-oriented. Key Results must be measurable and verifiable. The author invites everyone in the audience to “join this movement,” whether in setting goals for their company or their family. He says OKRs can be misused by picking the wrong objectives. The companion to OKRs are CFRs: Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition.
4:02
Author explains OKRs in talking-head format for LinkedIn
9K
84
May, 2018
Spoiler:
Objectives are what you want to get accomplished, while Key Results are how you’re going to get it done, thus the acronym OKR. The system was invented by Andy Grove of Intel in the 1970s; Doerr subsequently introduced OKRs to perhaps 100 different organizations, including Google when the founders were working out of their garage. Every quarter since then, every Googler has written down their objectives and key results and Google publishes and grades them. They don’t count toward bonuses and promotions but serve “a higher purpose.”
Follow the author
Ask Albert:
Rate the book
More books
"To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you think I was also going to be a chill, normal dude?"
“My biggest problem was that I had succeeded, at least in the pursuit of building my company. Where I had failed was with the rest of my life.”
"Often it is the outsider, unburdened by the past, who becomes the pattern-breaking person behind a pattern-breaking idea."
"The world’s chip industry, as well as the assembly of all the electronic goods chips enable, depends more on the Taiwan Strait and the South China coast than on any other chunk of the world’s territory except Silicon Valley."
"With its high profits and bifurcated labor force, California modeled capitalist discipline for the nation."
"The metaverse will challenge our assumptions about what is real, what is valuable, and what is possible."
"The aim of this book is to use short stories to convince you that soft skills are more important than the technical side of money."
"The minute you start compromising for the sake of massaging somebody's ego, that's it, game over."
recommends
"When it comes to creating and sustaining culture, what matters is not the content of any one message, but its tone."
"Ego is stolen. Confidence is earned. Confidence is based on what is real and solid. Ego is fake. It is hollow."
"I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over."
"In business, as in life, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances is often the key to success."
recommends
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."
"Seek a calling. Even if you don’t know what that means, seek it. If you’re following your calling, the fatigue will be easier to bear, the disappointments will be fuel, the highs will be like nothing you’ve ever felt."
"To be principled means to consistently operate with principles that can be clearly explained."
recommends
"Tencent's founder, Pony Ma, has always been focused on the long-term, and he has consistently invested in new technologies and industries with an eye towards the future."
"Fanatic discipline keeps 10X enterprises on track, empirical creativity keeps them vibrant, productive paranoia keeps them alive, and Level 5 ambition provides inspired motivation."
"The strategies and plans that managers formulate for confronting disruptive technological change, therefore, should be plans for learning and discovery rather than plans for execution."