Measure What Matters

Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a system he learned from Intel and Google, has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up to whom he gave $12. 5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, with OKRs they could measure what mattered. Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a system he learned from Intel and Google.