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OKR...is that what we're doing?
Haebom
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  • Haebom
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When a Twitter user said, “OKR is a methodology created by Google to hinder competitors,” Google’s CEO responded, “You got caught.”
The OKR system was introduced by Intel's Andrew Grove in the 1970s and became widely known through Google. This system provides a framework for setting goals and measuring progress. However, the OKR system has several problems. I have personally written an article on OKR in the past, but in fact, this methodology has many problems.
The problem with setting a 70% goal: The OKR system recommends that you only achieve 70% of your goal. This is intended to be a challenging goal, but in reality, it can be a barrier to creating high-quality results. In particular, some tasks are often worthless if they are not 100% complete.
Complexity of the measurement problem: The OKR system emphasizes measurable key results. However, developing and maintaining metrics to measure the performance of the work that actually matters is a very complex and cumbersome process. In addition, some metrics have little to do with actual work or are misleading.
OKR's top-down approach: The OKR system takes a top-down approach, starting with the CEO and setting goals at all levels of the organization. This approach leaves no room for activities such as research or experimentation, and makes it difficult to respond flexibly to a rapidly changing environment.
Cultural resistance and implementation difficulties: The core values and principles of the OKR system may sound ideal, but in practice, they may clash with the culture of the organization. Also, when the original goals need to be changed at the time of performance evaluation, this is often considered a failure.
Limitations as a management tool: Many managers equate OKRs with planning and rely on tools like spreadsheets (nowadays Notion, Asana, Swit, etc. offer similar functionality). However, this approach falls far short of the original purpose of OKRs: setting challenging goals and getting inspired by them .
As I write, I think this is also a problem of Goodhart's law. The OKR system can provide a useful framework for setting goals and measuring progress, but there are many problems in its implementation. These problems can be further complicated by the culture, structure, and individual work styles of the organization. Therefore, before adopting the OKR system, it is necessary to carefully consider its limitations and the problems that may arise during the implementation process.
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