Strategic Management: Key Results (Just the Quotes)

"KRAs and KPIs KRA and KPI are two confusing acronyms for an approach commonly recommended for identifying a person’s major job responsibilities. KRA stands for key result areas; KPI stands for key performance indicators. As academics and consultants explain this jargon, key result areas are the primary components or parts of the job in which a person is expected to deliver results. Key performance indicators represent the measures that will be used to determine how well the individual has performed. In other words, KRAs tell where the individual is supposed to concentrate her attention; KPIs tell how her performance in the specified areas should be measured. Probably few parts of the performance appraisal process create more misunderstanding and bewilderment than do the notion of KRAs and KPIs. The reason is that so much of the material written about KPIs and KRAs is both." (Dick Grote, "How to Be Good at Performance Appraisals: Simple, Effective, Done Right", 2011)

"We need indicators of overall performance that need only be reviewed on a monthly or bimonthly basis. These measures need to tell the story about whether the organization is being steered in the right direction at the right speed, whether the customers and staff are happy, and whether we are acting in a responsible way by being environmentally friendly. These measures are called key result indicators (KRIs)." (David Parmenter, "Key Performance Indicators: Developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs" 3rd Ed., 2015)

"An objective is a concise statement outlining a broad qualitative goal designed to propel the organization forward in a desired direction. […] A key result is a quantitative statement that measures the achievement of a given objective. If the objective asks, 'What do we want to do?' the key result asks, 'How will we know if we’ve met our objective?'" (Paul R Niven & Ben Lamorte, "Objectives and Key Results: Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs", 2016)

"OKRs are not, and should never be, considered a master checklist of tasks that need to be completed. The aim of the model is identifying the most critical business objectives and gauging accountability through quantitative key results. Strategy pundits are fond of noting that strategy is as much about what not to do as it is about what to do. So it is with OKRs. You must be disciplined in determining what makes the final cut." (Paul R Niven & Ben Lamorte, "Objectives and Key Results: Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs", 2016)

"OKRs is a critical thinking framework and ongoing discipline that seeks to ensure employees work together, focusing their efforts to make measurable contributions that drive the company forward." (Paul R Niven & Ben Lamorte, "Objectives and Key Results: Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs", 2016)

"OKRs should never be created in a vacuum, but must be a reflection of the company’s purpose, its desired long-term goals, and its plan to successfully defend market space. In other words, they should translate your mission, vision, and strategy into action." (Paul R Niven & Ben Lamorte, "Objectives and Key Results: Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs", 2016)

"An effective goal management system - an OKR system - links goals to a team’s broader mission. It respects targets and deadlines while adapting to circumstances. It promotes feedback and celebrates wins, large and small. Most important, it expands our limits. It moves us to strive for what might seem beyond our reach." (John Doerr, "Measure what Matters", 2018)

"Key results are the levers you pull, the marks you hit to achieve the goal. If an objective is well framed, three to five KRs will usually be adequate to reach it. Too many can dilute focus and obscure progress. Besides, each key result should be a challenge in its own right. If you’re certain you’re going to nail it, you’re probably not pushing hard enough. [...] Key results should be succinct, specific, and measurable. A mix of outputs and inputs is helpful. Finally, completion of all key results must result in attainment of the objective. If not, it’s not an OKR." (John Doerr, "Measure what Matters", 2018)

"KEY RESULTS benchmark and monitor HOW we get to the objective. Effective KRs are specific and time-bound, aggressive yet realistic. Most of all, they are measurable and verifiable. […] You either meet a key result’s requirements or you don’t; there is no gray area, no room for doubt." (John Doerr, "Measure what Matters", 2018)

"[OKRs (Objectives and Key Results): are a] management methodology that helps to ensure that the company focuses efforts on the same important issues throughout the organization." (John Doerr, "Measure what Matters", 2018)

"OKRs have such enormous potential because they are so adaptable. There is no dogma, no one right way to use them. Different organizations have fluctuating needs at various phases of their life cycle. For some, the simple act of making goals open and transparent is a big leap forward. For others, a quarterly planning cadence will change the game." (John Doerr, "Measure what Matters", 2018)

"The challenge with using OKRs is to focus on just three to five objectives - sounds simple enough, but so many organisations follow the ‘if it moves, track it’ philosophy such that they can’t see the wood for the trees." (Ian Wallis, "Data Strategy: From definition to execution", 2021)

"The premise of OKRs is to keep objectives and results simple and flexible, ensuring they align with business goals and enterprise initiatives guided by regular reviews to assess progress during the quarter. The intent is to keep OKRs clear and accountable, as well as measurable, with between three and five objectives recommended at a high level that can each be tracked by three to five key measures. They should be ambitious goals, even uncomfortable, in challenging aspirations, making them stretch targets." (Ian Wallis, "Data Strategy: From definition to execution", 2021)

"I can’t imagine where we would be without OKRs. The discipline forces us to look back every quarter and hold ourselves accountable, and to look ahead every quarter to imagine how we can better live our values." (Rick Levin)

"If a feature idea doesn’t speak directly to one the OKRs, it’s generally off the list." (Marty Cagan) 

"The one thing an [OKR] system should provide par excellence is focus. This can only happen if we keep the number of objectives small. [...] Each time you make a commitment, you forfeit your chance to commit to something else. This, of course, is an inevitable, inescapable consequence of allocating any finite resource. People who plan have to have the guts, honesty, and discipline to drop projects as well as to initiate them, to shake their heads 'no' as well as to smile 'yes'. [...] We must realize - and act on the realization - that if we try to focus on everything, we focus on nothing." (Andrew S Grove)