Book Review: Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World With OKRs

I picked up Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs because I wanted to learn more about how objectives and key results (OKRs) could be implemented in my department and our college. At one time, I learned that Google used and still uses OKRs to drive their business forward. John Doerr, the author of Measure What Matters introduced OKRs to Google. This is definitely the right person from whom to learn about OKRs.

Measure What Matters is 306 pages long. Doerr arranged the book into 21 chapters spread over two major sections: OKRs in Action and The New World of Work. Additionally, he shared six informative resources focused on the implementation of OKRs.

OKRs in Action

Throughout Measure What Matters, Doerr shared stories about how OKRs were introduced to different people and organizations, how they implemented them, and what the results were. Each story helped to clarify the idea of OKRs. Doerr also shared how he discovered OKRs. They originated with Andy Grove. He was the CEO of Intel.

In the first part of the book, Doerr detailed the four key features of the OKR concept:

• Focus and Commit to Priorities
• Align and Connect for Teamwork
• Track for Accountability
• Stretch for Amazing

The thing I like about OKRs is that they are short in duration. An OKR cycle is typically one quarter, however, we have adjusted ours to fit the academic cycle. One set of OKRs for an academic term. Another thing that I like is that OKRs let you know where one stands at the end of the cycle. Because OKRs are intended to be transparent, everyone else knows where you stand as you get to know where they stand.

Doerr provided guidance for crafting clear and direct OKRs. Ideally, teams develop OKRs as a unit so that there is alignment across the department and organization. This helps to ensure everyone is working on the right things, not just doing work.

One of the things, I need to do better is score my OKRs. When I lost part of my team, I also lost my focus in this area. A new term is starting, it is time for me to jump back on the horse.

Throughout the book, Doerr shared examples of OKRs created by many different companies. He provides you with an idea of how to put them into action. He also included the grading scores as well as the justification for each score. This helped immensely with understanding how to craft exacting OKRs.

The final part that I like about OKRs is that they are stretch goals. The intent is to help you achieve superior performance and results. If you fall short, you are still doing great. I use OKRs to push the team to create next-level support. OKRs have definitely helped me keep raising the level of our support to faculty.

The New World of Work

What was missing from my understanding of OKRs, Doerr covered in the second part of the book. In this section, Doerr shared how to implement OKRs across the team. He focused on tips for continuous performance management in the form of Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition (CFRs).

Doerr stressed the importance of not tying OKRs to compensation. But he did emphasize the need for regular (weekly) discussions about progress. He also included guidance for conducting the meetings.

Measure What Matters helped fill in some of the missing pieces that I needed. I have been encouraging other team leaders around me to use OKRs for planning. I now have a book that I can encourage them to read on the subject. If you lead a team or an organization, or even if you are running solo, I believe that Measure What Matters will help you achieve new levels of success.

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Additional Reading

• Our Processes for Providing Faculty Support

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