Whitney O'Banner (Software Engineering Manager, Medium) - Bottoms Up With OKRs

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Bottoms Up with OKRs In 2013, Google famously published a leading reference for establishing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) as a way to align teams and set short-term goals. While some of the information is still relevant, it’s time to refresh your approach to setting OKRs within your teams. This talk will help leaders abandon the dated, flawed approach to setting OKRs and enable organizational alignment in an exciting new way, suitable for 2019 and beyond. Whitney will also share some of her recent experiences at Medium where she has been charged with making remote work succeed in a company that has traditionally been centrally located.

Software

I am Whitney O’Banner
Engineering Manager at Medium
Tweet me at @woobanner
Hello!

They got it wrong.
(so did the rest of us)

“
OKRs = Overrated & Kinda Right
metrics when you are too early.

Objectives and Key Results
1 What are OKRs?

We will
(objective)
as measured by
(key results).

We will
go viral
as measured by
5k new followers.

Learn
Big wins.
Align
Shared
vision.
Why use OKRs?

Learn
Big wins.
Align
Shared
vision.
Quantify
Track
progress.
Why use OKRs?

TIP #1
Ditch individual OKRs
Use tasks instead.

TIP #2
Ignore the metrics.*
Focus on outcomes.

We will
go viral
as measured by
more followers.

“
It’s too hard to
make sure all the
goals line up.

Managers overvalue their ideas by
42%
Employees undervalue their ideas by
11%

TIP #3
Don’t cascade (every) goal.
Go bottoms up.

Recap
◉ Try tasks
◉ Focus on outcomes
◉ Go bottoms up!

Questions?
You can reach me at
◉ @woobanner
◉ whitney@medium.com
Thanks!

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