Great article as always Tom! Very in-depth and extensive!
I'm not a fan of OKR either.
Besides all the reasons you mentioned, I think they only work for a select group of people: the ones who set goals and pursue them step-by-step. The single-minded laser-focused people. I know a couple of them, and what they achieve is amazing. But I feel the part of population that can actually do that is really small. And, I also think we need the "in the moment thinking generalizers who try a million things and fix things along the way" are also very needed in complex environments (maybe even more so).
I do like the type of conversations OKR can enable: "I'd like to focus on this, what can you contribute, or which problems do you see". Theoretically, this can help achieve more understanding between the different "layers" in a company.
Basically, in my ideal world you'd use something similar to OKR to start conversations, and then basically ignore them later.
Love that observation - there’s some sort of big diagram here where OKRs work brilliantly for a subset of activities AND a subset of people IN a subset of contexts. So ... not very often :)
Your second point reminds me of how I’ve experienced goal-setting work personally too: I spent time to think through and write down a few goals and then put the paper away. When I looked at the paper again after a few years, I’d achieved quite a lot of them without explicitly trying.
I’ll leave it to the reader to figure out whether they would have happened anyway or whether some sort of subconscious prediction machinery was triggered :)
Haha, yes, I recognize that! (setting goal, and realizing after a year that somehow I managed to achieve it without actively trying)
I think it has to do with the Stories we tell ourselves. Us meat-brains need linear projections of multi-dimensional complexities (like 'ourselves', 'others', 'our environment' and 'the interactions between all of this') to function.
That's why, every now and then, it's good to reflect: what have I done, what did I like, what do I want to achieve, what did others do, what are their goals, etc. And then 'sync' your story with others.
Probably, setting a goal changed the story you have about yourself: "I'm Tom and I write articles". You keep telling yourself and others that story, and then implicitly reach your goals.
Good article, Tom. And, of course, I agree with your thesis. But let's be fair; those of us who know and appreciate Dave's work have an advantage in these (and other) matters! ;-D
Very timely, Tom! I will share some of your acerbic wit with a "value management office" this week.
Great article as always Tom! Very in-depth and extensive!
I'm not a fan of OKR either.
Besides all the reasons you mentioned, I think they only work for a select group of people: the ones who set goals and pursue them step-by-step. The single-minded laser-focused people. I know a couple of them, and what they achieve is amazing. But I feel the part of population that can actually do that is really small. And, I also think we need the "in the moment thinking generalizers who try a million things and fix things along the way" are also very needed in complex environments (maybe even more so).
I do like the type of conversations OKR can enable: "I'd like to focus on this, what can you contribute, or which problems do you see". Theoretically, this can help achieve more understanding between the different "layers" in a company.
Basically, in my ideal world you'd use something similar to OKR to start conversations, and then basically ignore them later.
Thanks Matthijs!
Love that observation - there’s some sort of big diagram here where OKRs work brilliantly for a subset of activities AND a subset of people IN a subset of contexts. So ... not very often :)
Your second point reminds me of how I’ve experienced goal-setting work personally too: I spent time to think through and write down a few goals and then put the paper away. When I looked at the paper again after a few years, I’d achieved quite a lot of them without explicitly trying.
I’ll leave it to the reader to figure out whether they would have happened anyway or whether some sort of subconscious prediction machinery was triggered :)
Haha, yes, I recognize that! (setting goal, and realizing after a year that somehow I managed to achieve it without actively trying)
I think it has to do with the Stories we tell ourselves. Us meat-brains need linear projections of multi-dimensional complexities (like 'ourselves', 'others', 'our environment' and 'the interactions between all of this') to function.
That's why, every now and then, it's good to reflect: what have I done, what did I like, what do I want to achieve, what did others do, what are their goals, etc. And then 'sync' your story with others.
Probably, setting a goal changed the story you have about yourself: "I'm Tom and I write articles". You keep telling yourself and others that story, and then implicitly reach your goals.
Someone had to say it! Nice article :)
Thanks Tom!
Good article, Tom. And, of course, I agree with your thesis. But let's be fair; those of us who know and appreciate Dave's work have an advantage in these (and other) matters! ;-D
Thanks! And this is true ;-D
Who is Dave and where do i find this work, please?
Cynefin.io