You’re Not Writing OKRs.
|
Dear Reader,
Every product organization has seen it - "OKR Theater" - Teams meticulously craft perfect objective statements, debate whether something is "outcome enough," and create elaborate tracking systems that generate more busy work than value.
Behind this theater lurk predictable patterns:
We adopt "best practices" without a clear why. Instead of copy-pasting Google's framework, use your existing Product Vision, Strategy, and team retrospectives to define why you need OKRs and how you'll know they're working.
We try to make OKRs cover 100% of our responsibilities.
![]() |
This creates a spreadsheet of busy work disguised as strategic priorities. Product teams should only focus OKRs on what they want to measure and influence proactively—the difference between Key Results (strategic priorities) and KPIs (evergreen metrics).
Our team structures prevent cross-functional collaboration. The "We enable X by Y%" objective sounds great until you realize you can't influence half of what's needed to make it happen because critical expertise sits elsewhere. Your shared UX resource is busy elsewhere? Tough luck. Is the infrastructure team not available this cycle? The growth team can’t prioritize your A/B test until Q3. The case for embedding domains of expertise within a Product Team becomes more substantial as your organization grows.
We chase impacts instead of outcomes. While "increase activation rate by 20%" sounds impressive, these lagging metrics change too slowly to guide your work. Product teams need leading indicators that provide faster feedback on whether they're making progress.
We have AI generate our OKRs from Scratch. Using AI as a thought partner is crucial for enhancing your practices, but outsourcing your thinking to it produces generic goals disconnected from your context. Treat AI like a sparring partner to refine existing thinking, not a servant to do your strategic thinking. The real question remains: "What will we do differently, and how will we measure success?"
Should I share my favorite OKR sparring prompts in a future newsletter? Reply and let me know.
To create real progress by using OKRs:
The practice is the product. Just as we continuously refine our products based on user feedback, we should adapt our working methods based on their effectiveness, not their resemblance to a framework. OKRs aren't magical - they're just metrics used thoughtfully to create specific value.
Did you enjoy the newsletter? Please forward it. It only takes two clicks. Creating this one took two hours.
Thank you for Practicing Product,
Tim
PS.: I'm doing a live fireside chat on Don't Turn Continuous Discovery into Dogmatic Discovery with Ibrahim Bashir (Ex-VP Product Amplitude, Author of Running the Business)
Learn the strategies and tactics you need to use OKRs in a way that helps product teams prioritize work based on user problems and business goals—instead of replicating existing feature backlogs.
My Outcome OKRs for Product Teams Course enables product teams to use OKRs as a tool for decision-making in the context of Product Strategy, Product Discovery, and Scrum. Without the fluff, but with a focus on practicality in everyday work.
Learn more about my OKRs Course |
As a Product Management Coach, I guide Product Teams to measure the real progress of their evidence-informed decisions.
I focus on better practices to connect the dots of Product Strategy, Product OKRs, and Product Discovery.
1 tip & 3 resources per week to improve your Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery practices in less than 5 minutes.
Product Practice #363 How to IdentifyHigh-Leverage Impacts READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED May 16, 2025 READING TIME 5 min & 13 sec Dear Reader, An Impact is a metric that describes the achievement of a company- or department-level priority. It's a lagging indicator that changes as a result of multiple compounding efforts, but is not linkable to one individual feature or activity. Most Impacts fall into one of five categories: Growth Engagement Monetization Satisfaction Process Quality From Vague...
Product Practice #362 The Progress Wheel: My favorite Structure to Connect the Dots READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED May 9, 2025 READING TIME 4 min & 48 sec Dear Reader, Real Progress happens when you choose methods because they create value for you in your context, and you can use each domain to improve the others. To make Real Progress, teams need to understand and practice two core ideas: Putting the value of a practice before the selection of a method or framework is crucial to avoid getting...
Product Practice #361 Connecting North Star Metricsto Business Models READ ON HERBIG.CO PUBLISHED May 2, 2025 READING TIME 4 min & 45 sec Dear Reader, In many organizations, there's still a disconnect between product and business metrics. Product teams focus on customer-centric outcomes while business teams chase financial targets, with neither side fully trusting how one drives the other. When done right, a North Star Metric (NSM) can establish a middle ground that brings together both...