The “Anti” OKR Pledge

We’ve all been there. The whole team has rallied around a new project and is excited about a new framework that will help the company reach this audacious goal: OKRs. The buzz is there, OKRs have proven to be successful for huge tech brands like Google, Adobe, and more. The potential is amazing. But then… it falls flat. Executives are the only one setting and managing the goals; everything becomes the number one priority; too many tasks creep onto your to-do list, and slowly it becomes tedious and irrelevant to what’s actually important. 

There are definitely right and wrong ways to set your OKRs. And we decided to take a new approach to talk about the difference. We’ve put together a core set of principles on how to do OKRs the right way — all as an  “Anti” OKR Pledge. 

The “Anti” OKR pledge reaffirms Objectives and Key Results as a lightweight process that enables breakthrough results, puts employees first, and that drives laser focus and crystal clear transparency. Taking the “Anti” OKR pledge means you’ll commit to: 

(1) making OKRs for everyone, not just for execs

(2) setting fewer goals to achieve focus (less is more!)

(3) saying “no” to individual OKRs

(4) resisting the cascading of goals

(5) fixing it if it sucks (e.g. a commitment to continuous improvement)

This is also our pledge to you. We know OKRs are tough, and it’s easy to fall back into bad habits or what is familiar. Koan is here to help you make the most of your OKR journey and cheer you on every step of the way. 

Over 100 have already taken the pledge, including Measure What Matters, There Be Giants, Atruity and more! Dive a little deeper into each principle and commit to the pledge at okrpledge.com.