How I use OKRs to Write my Book

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HERBIG.CO

PUBLISHED

Sep 20, 2024

READING TIME

3 min & 59 sec

Dear Reader,

When thinking about measuring the success of writing a book, it's relatively easy to land on metrics like

No. of copies sold within a period of time
The average ratings on amazon
The no. of people pre-ordering or signing up to be notified upon book launch
Generated indirect revenue from inquiries or follow-up products sold

The problem with these metrics is that they don't change most of the time while you're actually writing the book.

But when I'm writing, I can't influence these numbers. Instead, I have to find numbers that correlate to my current writing stage and help me make progress. Or, to quote Ravi Mehta, I need to set the right type of goal for my current stage of development.

To avoid that trap, I turned to input and output metrics, helping me measure my progress. Yes, these often demonized metrics within the product bubble can actually be useful.

During the early stages of writing it's all about putting in the work. So my OKRs looked like this (inputs and outputs):

O: Book Outputs over Outcomes
KR1: Meaningful (>15 minutes) book writing session on 80% of Healthy Working Days
KR2: Submitted word count of x on agreed milestone dates with my editor, Lauren.

As I moved from solely writing to writing AND gathering feedback, I could shift my OKRs (a mix of Inputs, Outputs, and Outcomes):

O: Feedback is a Gift
KR1: Beta reader feedback on OKRs Part from 5 Qualified People
KR2: Create 11000 Reviewable words for the Next Book Chapter
KR3: Send 2nd Potentially Reviewable Book Section to 20 qualified readers
KR4: 6 uninterrupted writing days (4h book work time)

As I approach a committable publishing date for Spring 2025, my OKRs will become more Outcome-oriented, using the metrics I described earlier in the post.

You can put all these OKRs through the wringer to determine whether they're the "right ones" based on someone else's definition. But that doesn't matter (and is not my point). What matters to me (and, frankly, should matter to every team using OKRs) is that they help me measure progress in my context.

HOW TO PUT THIS THEORY INTO PRACTICE

Don't Demonize Outputs. Sometimes specific Output goals make it more tangible to measure progress than lofty Outcome goals.
Match Goals and Risks. What is your biggest risk? Don't hold on to one type of goal; instead, choose whatever helps you move through your risk right now.
Keep an eye on the long-term. To inspire and anchor short-term OKRs, articulating the Outcomes you ultimately want to achieve is vital. It helps you look (and move) beyond your day-to-day.

Did you enjoy this one or have feedback? Do reply. It's motivating. I'm not a robot; I read and respond to every subscriber email I get (just ask around). If this newsletter isn't for you anymore, you can unsubscribe here.

Thank you for Practicing Product,

Tim

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Content I found Practical This Week

OKRs aren't the only way. How to identify the right types of goals for your team.

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“What’s Possible” vs. “What’s Valuable” When Setting OKR Numbers

"What's possible" is all about your team's capabilities. It's the max you could theoretically achieve if everything went perfectly. Maybe your sales team could make 1000 cold calls a day if they worked around the clock. That's what's possible. "What's valuable," on the other hand, is all about impact. It's focusing on the outcomes that will truly move the needle for your business and your customers. In this example, maybe making 200 highly targeted calls to ideal prospects would actually drive more revenue and satisfaction. Wondering why this matters? Well, it all goes back to the “why.”

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What if you can’t measure the outcome?

As people start to develop new muscles and mindsets, all their OKRs become outcomes. But only tracking outcomes leads to a common challenge. At this stage, people usually can't or don't know how to measure the outcomes of many of their investments. Sometimes, the outcome is unclear, the organization doesn't have metrics for it, or doesn't collect the data to measure it. As a consequence, a large part of the company's investments—and a large part of what the teams are working on—is not represented in the OKRs. A large part of the organization's investments and priorities disappear from view when tracking OKRs. This lack of visibility can cause confusion, misalignment, and frustration among the teams, making them feel like their work doesn't matter.

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