OKRs: What I wish we'd known at the start

OKRs are used in [namedrop huge successful companies] to great effect – would you like to try using them too?

This session will take a detailed look at how we’re using them on the BBC Children’s web team, covering everything from how the high-level goals are set down to how OKR processes interact with the daily and weekly ceremonies of our Kanban process. We’ve learned a lot about what works well and what pitfalls to look out for, and will be sharing that experience here.

Having clearly defined objectives can give the whole team a unified focus, and help to make the work outside of the near-term development tasks visible to everyone. And by concentrating on moving the right key results, team members start incorporating data-driven decisions into everything they work on – how are we going to tell whether this feature has helped us towards our goal? And what will we do if it hasn’t?

For more details, ask me on Mastodon: https://mastodon.me.uk/@neil_vass
Or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilvass/

Transcript

3. “You need a system to keep you – and your team – aimed at your goal when the world seems determined to throw shiny objects at you.”
16. “Only a few things matter — but they usually matter a lot”
17. “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (maybe) (thanks @codinghorror)
18. “Nothing pleases people more than to go on thinking what they have always thought, and at the same time imagine that they are thinking something new and daring: it combines the advantage of security and the delight of adventure.” T. S. Eliot (thanks @snowded)
22. “Young man, we don’t have to go to the moon today. It’s your call.”