Friday, August 19, 2011

OKRs for actually reaching goals

I've been reading a book about Google: "In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives"

and it's been very enlightening; it's definitely changed my view of Google for the better. I never really thought that much about Google - the best place for search, but that's about it. But Google really is an amazing company - early Google actually reminds me a lot of what it's like to work at Phidgets, which is good.

I've switched from Safari to Chrome, so that should say something right away. I've also been looking at Android with some interest. Apple has a lot more polish, but Google is less evil/more geeky, which I can appreciate...

At any rate - OKRs. Objectives & Key Results. This is the system that Google uses internally for setting goals. The key thing to understand here is that Google is a data driven company; they like to measure things objectively with real data and numbers. So, you set your objectives, and then your key results are measures of how well those objectives get met. i.e. for an objective of 'get fit', a key result would be 'go to the gym 3 times a week' - and then after a year or a month or whatever, you see how you did.

See here for someone from Google explaining it much better then I could:
http://twopieceset.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-years-resolutions-okrs.html

Well, I really like this system. I think it would make reaching towards goals much less intimidating in real life. I think I will start using it!

-Patrick


P.S. Here is the chunk of the book about ORKs: