Radical Focus SECOND EDITION

Once you have a mission, selecting each quarter’s Objectives is straightforward.

An Objective takes you through a year or a quarter. A mission should last a lot longer.

o make one, start with this simple formula:
We [reduce pain/improve life] in [market] by [value proposition].
Then refine.

When you have a question in your daily work life, the mission should be top of mind to help you answer.

OKRs are most likely to work when a company has a strong mission and when the company hires great people and then trusts them to do great things.

If you are getting a funny little feeling in the pit of your stomach saying, “We are really going to have to all bring our A game to hit these …” then you are probably setting them correctly.

If you only have a fifty-fifty shot of making this goal, it’s probably the right level of stretch.

Result is a result, you can change your tactics until the numbers move. If a Result is a project, you have locked yourself into achieving it, even if you find out it’s the wrong approach.

If you spot a task or project listed as a Key Result, ask a few questions:
Why this project? Why is it important?
What will it accomplish? What will change?
How do you know if it’s successful?
What numbers will move if it works?
How does that tie into the company’s Objective?

Then the team should stack rank the metrics. The metrics that are the best indicators of progress go at the top of the list and ones that are less trustworthy go to the bottom.