Overview
Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) management system that has powered the success of Google, Intel, and dozens of other world-class organizations.
Doerr is a veteran venture capitalist who learned Andy Grove's OKR system (Objectives and Key Results) at Intel in 1974 and later introduced it to Google, Intuit, and dozens of other companies. Measure What Matters, published in 2018, tells that story and provides a practical guide to the OKR method. The book is unusually personal for a management text, with extended sections from founders Doerr has worked with.
Key Ideas
Objectives and Key Results
An Objective is what you want to achieve; Key Results are how you measure progress quantitatively.
Stretch Goals Drive Innovation
Set OKRs ambitious enough that achieving 70% represents outstanding performance.
Transparency Creates Alignment
When everyone can see everyone else's OKRs, duplication is eliminated and collaboration increases.
Who should read this
Leaders considering adopting OKRs, or who have adopted them badly and want to fix the implementation. Also useful for individual contributors curious about the system their company uses. The case studies — from Google's early adoption to the Gates Foundation's — are more interesting than the abstract framework.
Who might skip it
Skip if you're already running OKRs successfully — the book's conceptual contribution is modest once you have a working practice. Skip also if you dislike the 'VC writes a legacy book' genre; Doerr is unmistakably operating in it.
The verdict
The authoritative book on OKRs, but a better reference than a read. Doerr is clear and experienced, and the case studies are good. The method itself is simple enough that a good article can convey it; the book earns its length only if you want the history and the range of applications. Useful to own as a team reference.
"Ideas are easy. Execution is everything."
— John Doerr, Measure What Matters
If you liked this
High Output Management by Andy Grove for the OKR source tradition. Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke for a tighter practitioner's guide.