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Borut's avatar

This article should be a mandatory read for every company engaging with the OKRs. I would bet that ill-designed OKR software is accelerating the perception of OKRs as a macro-project management tool as opposed to a strategic one.

JIRA caused irreparable damage to the Agile idea and I am afraid a similar fate will happen to goal management. Good intentions are not enough if implemented with bad practices in order to satisfy hungry stakeholders.

Thank you again, for the valuable article.

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Mark's avatar

I worked for a company in the past that was implementing OKR. Not unlike Agile, it turned out to be a half-baked and misunderstood solution... to whatever problem we think we had.

One of my biggest issues with processes is the overuse of processes. Processes are great! Don't get me wrong. But one problem that ends up surfacing is that we become so focused on implementing and using processes that delivering actual value now takes longer to do. The funny part about all of this is that it's being sold as a way to deliver more value sooner. The opposite is often the result... from my experience.

The mere mention of "due dates" will be triggering. So I applaud you for publishing this article. Bold move.

I mentioned above about the "half bakedness" of processes like Agile and OKRs in a business: the point I want to try to make here is that due dates are business 101. I would absolutely love to believe that there is a world where businesses have less of a focus on due dates and more focus delivering outcomes and value, but I highly doubt that this will ever truly become a reality. There's no reality where business people divorce themselves from due dates for these reasons:

1. Business people believe that they NEED to know when they're going to get the thing that they're paying for. And sure, this is reasonable, but as is often the case with trying to predict the future, deliveries shift regardless. For really good examples of this, look no further than the aerospace industry. There is always shift and cost overruns.

2. Forcing functions! Due dates serve as forcing functions. Business people believe (and there is some legitimacy to this) that people won't push themselves to get work done faster/sooner without a due date. Wether the due date is a legitimate due date or not. It doesn't matter. The psychological effects of due dates FORCE people to work harder and faster... for better or worse. Often worse. The reason for that is simple: when your daily life is a constant grind, you will search for short cuts. Those short cuts are when quality starts to slip. :cough:Boeing:cough: Believe me, I know there's a lot more to it than that with Boeing, but this is certainly one aspect. Who needs bolts on door plugs anyway? Amirite? We need to ship this thing yesterday. < due date!

I've seen many business people over the years grip hard onto their due dates and any challenge to them will often be met with the excuse of "...we have external forces that make shifting the due date impossible". A full-stop, non-debatable excuse. Another eye roll.

Even if you could convince business people to stop focusing on due dates, they will find ways to keep them and hide them. One such way is renaming them. Say hello to "Sprints"! Sprints are another forcing function. They are, in effect, due dates! True story! Deliver smaller chunks of value every two weeks. Welcome to the velocity grind! Another VERY misused concept. "Take on more story points", they will tell you. Increase your velocity... uh huh :eye_roll:...

Felipe, I wish you the best of luck with this mission. I would love to see/read some examples where you've successfully convinced a business to operate this way. Though, I'm not sure I'd be convinced that they haven't found a way to hide their old habits.

Let the poo-flinging comments ensue!

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