Hi, my name is Ryan Panchadsaram and along with John Doerr, we founded WhatMatters.com, a resource to help leaders set and achieve their most audacious goals. I also work with John and Kleiner Perkins to find and fund truly disruptive entrepreneurs and their companies. Together, John and I advise a lot of organizations in OKRs from technology companies, to nonprofits, to airlines and hospitals, to clothing companies, and even NFL teams. We've seen them used well at startups all the way to organizations with more than 10,000 people and in the end when used well, OKRs help leaders lead. One of the first things I encountered when working with John was his infectious enthusiasm for OKRs and I have to say, it makes sense, his enthusiasm, especially since I've personally seen OKRs help organizations achieve seemingly impossible things. I first came across OKRs in the government, and it became one of my most valuable professional experiences. If we rewind back to October of 2013 healthcare dot gov was launched to help people take advantage of the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act expanded insurance coverage, and on opening day, it just didn't work. Hundreds of thousands of people were trying to apply and couldn't. I was one of the six people that were asked to help, and now of course six people can't fix a project of this size, with thousands of people working on it and over a billion dollars behind it. But our job was to change how everyone was approaching the problem. I remember when we were in that room that gathered all the key leads and contractors. We called it "The War Room" and we were looking at all the issues and discussing how to chart a path forward. When one night Mikey Dickerson, my colleague and an ex-Googler said, "Well it's really quite simple. We have to fix the website for the vast majority of the people and that's measured by: seven out of 10 people being able to get through; a one second response time; and a 1% air rate." And he just wrote that on the board. He didn't put the O. Or the K R. Or even called them OKRs He just... it was part of his vernacular. It was so succinct: Fix the website as measured by these three things. And that stayed on the white board for that whole month, guiding the rescue effort and ultimately enrolling millions of people into health care. I saw OKRs being used successfully in the most bureaucratic place on the planet. And I thought to myself, if it can be used here, then it can be absolutely used anywhere: in any company, any nonprofit, any kind of organization. And I've been an OKR believer ever since. So I'm going to be your coach, and by the end of this course, you'll know how to adopt OKRs just like we do. When I advise entrepreneurs and leaders, sharing this goal-setting system is some of my most rewarding work, because I can see how it changes how a leader inspires their company. So what exactly are OKRs? To me, OKRs are a vocabulary for leadership. They help you turn your mission into action. Every organization has a mission: Google wants to organize the world's information. ONE, the nonprofit led by the rock singer Bono, wants to end poverty and preventable disease, That's really big stuff. So how does a team even begin to approach missions like that? They use OKRs to help them articulate what success looks like. And in the case of ONE, they ask questions like what qualifies as extreme poverty and how do we know if the solution is going to be good at ending it? And how many doses of antivirals do we need to eradicate AIDS in Africa? They break up the mission into measurable and accomplishable things. When a leader defines a mission, but doesn't provide a process or framework for acting on it, it can build frustration in teams, ending them up confused and lost. We've all been there, we've loved the mission of the organization we work for but lack clarity on the direction and strategy, and that gets in the way of work getting done. Whether you're an executive project lead or even a solo practitioner, OKRs are a powerful tool for providing that clarity. They equip and empower your entire organization to take an active role in its setting goals. OKRs have two parts: an Objective and a set of Key Results. Objectives are the "what." They represent the most important things you're trying to accomplish in the next 90 days. Because Objectives are those all-important goals, they become rallying points for your teams, and fewer Objectives are better because it reinforces focus. Key Results are the "how." A set of Key Results are the measurable benchmarks and milestones that show you're making progress, and if achieved, means you've accomplished that Objective. Each Objective usually has between 3-5 Key Results supported. Objective: Fix healthcare dot gov for the vast majority of people. Our Key Results: 70% people get through; one second response time; and that 1% error rate. When you look at a set of Key Results together, they should add up to meeting your Objective, and each one should be essential to its success. OKRs are unique because they take measurement and tie it into action, all in a radically concise and transparent way. Yes, transparent, because unlike most other goal setting systems, the OKRs you write are visible to your entire organization. So you should be able to look up down and across your organization and see how your colleagues efforts are impacting your collective work. You're probably familiar with KPIs, or key performance indicators. OKRs are like KPIs, but have soul to them. With OKRs, measurements are always connected to intention, specifically how you want things to change. I like to say you use OKRs to lead and KPIs to manage. Every organization is going to need those key performance indicators, as well as the other things to track how work and activities are done: those roadmaps, that financial projections, the bug lists. Your OKRs, on the other hand, are meant to be your priorities and help you set a direction. OKRs are also a useful tool for communication. OKRs surface what's important. They'll also hope you decide what's a distraction, and best left until the next cycle. Being great at OKRs is going to feel like a superpower, but at the end of the day, there isn't much magic at work here, just an infinitely repeatable process that you're going to get better and better over time. And as a result, your organization will get better and better too. I am so glad you're here. Let's get started.
