Objectives and Key Results

Chapter ThreeCreating Effective OKRs

OMAHA

We're not referring to the city in Nebraska, or the landing site of Allied troops in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Our Omaha is the phrase recently retired American football legend Peyton Manning uttered many times at the line of scrimmage over the last few years of his career. Even if you're not a football fan, we're confident you're aware of Peyton Manning—the National Football League's all-time leader in a trove of categories, including touchdowns thrown, passing yards, wins, and many more. Manning, who is famous for his meticulous preparation, would approach the line, survey the defense, and when he was ready, yell “Omaha.” Then the ball would be snapped and the play was on. In order to maximize his team's chances for success, Manning never called for the ball until he was completely prepared to take advantage of whatever vulnerabilities the defense was displaying.

We're about to shout Omaha to you. Before you can begin using OKRs, and reaping the many advantages we touted in Chapter 1, you need to be prepared and able to create robust and effective objectives and key results. In this chapter we'll share with you how to do that. Then the game is truly on!

It is here that we'll show you exactly what goes into creating OKRs. Specifically, we'll outline the characteristics of quality OKRs, supply you with tips to make the job easier, and warn you of the pitfalls that can stand in the way of effective objectives and key results. Among ...