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Sean Everett argues OKRs create conflicting goals across departments. Instead, he proposes one metric: free cash flow. Keep spending below revenue, reinvest excess into growth loops that bring more users and revenue. Anything else is a hobby.
Sean Everett argues OKRs create conflicting goals across departments. Instead, he proposes one metric: free cash flow. Keep spending below revenue, reinvest excess into growth loops that bring more users and revenue. Anything else is a hobby.
OKRs, objectives and key results. Ah, yes. So popularized by Google, I think, and now many companies use them. What do they mean? Well, it's really just a mechanism to help align a whole bunch of people on individual parts to make sure they come together as a whole. But I think they kind of run afoul because ultimately people end up having too many goals and objectives, and then they end up conflicting with each other in other departments. And so it just becomes like too many things on the to-do list. I just don't like them, honestly. I just don't like them. Just here, let me give you the shortcut for OKRs. This is what it is. I tweeted this the other day. This is it. Free cash flow, invest in growth loops. That's it. Whole company. Spend less than you make. And with the excess, Invest in the thing that drives more revenue or users, which needs to drive revenue at some point. That's it. That's the whole ballgame. If you're not doing that, your business fails. You're not a business, you're a hobby or a part-time thing. So yeah, OKR shortcut. Take that excess cash, put it into the stuff that grows. That's it. All right. Have a great one.
