Measure What Matters
John Doerr · 2018
Venture capitalist John Doerr reveals OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), the deceptively simple goal-setting system that took Intel, Google, and the Gates Foundation from ambition to 10x results. Learn how to focus your team on what truly matters and actually hit goals that feel impossible.
The definitive guide to OKRs, the goal-setting system used by Google and top companies.
Three of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of Measure What Matters pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.
- Write goals as Objectives (the inspiring 'what') paired with 3-5 measurable Key Results (the 'how you'll know you got there'), if a Key Result has no number, it isn't a Key Result.
- Limit yourself to 3-5 objectives per quarter; the discipline of OKRs is as much about what you choose NOT to do as what you commit to.
- Run OKRs on a quarterly cadence and make every person's OKRs visible to everyone, transparency replaces top-down policing with self-directed alignment.
The other 4 — and the full 10-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 9 chapters
The whole summary runs about 10 minutes, read or listened to.
- The Idea That Drives 10x Growth
- Where OKRs Were Forged: Intel and Operation Crush
- Superpower #1: Focus and Commit to Priorities
- Superpower #2: Align and Connect for Teamwork
- Superpower #3: Track for Accountability
- Superpower #4: Stretch for Amazing
- OKRs Beyond Tech: Gates, Bono, and Mission-Driven Goals
- CFRs: The Continuous Conversation That Replaces the Annual Review
- Culture, and Putting OKRs to Work
Finish Measure What Matters tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 10 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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