Execution is kind of a dirty word in some circles. It sounds like a chore, right? We all have these massive, world-changing ideas, but actually getting the work done? That’s where the wheels usually fall off. Honestly, most companies are just a collection of people running in slightly different directions, hoping they all hit the same finish line.
In 1999, John Doerr walked into a small office in Mountain View to meet two guys named Larry and Sergey. They had a search engine. It was good, but they didn't really have a plan for how to make it a global powerhouse. Doerr, a legendary venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins, didn't just give them money. He gave them a system.
He called it OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results.
That story is the heart of Measure What Matters, Doerr’s 2018 manifesto on how to run a business without losing your mind. It’s been years since it hit the shelves, but in 2026, the book is still the "bible" for startups and Fortune 500s alike. But here's the thing: most people who talk about OKRs haven't actually read the book, and they're getting it wrong.
The Andy Grove Connection
You can’t talk about John Doerr without talking about Andy Grove.
Grove was the CEO of Intel during the 1970s, a time when the company was facing an existential crisis. They were getting crushed in the memory chip market by Japanese competitors. Grove realized Intel had to pivot or die. He came up with "iMBOs" (Intel Management by Objectives), which eventually became OKRs.
Doerr was a young salesman at Intel back then. He watched Grove use this system to force the entire company to abandon memory chips and focus entirely on microprocessors. It wasn't just a "goal." It was a survival strategy.
When Doerr later brought this to Google, he wasn't just teaching them how to track tasks. He was teaching them how to focus.
What Really Makes an OKR?
Basically, an OKR is split into two parts.
The Objective is the "What." It’s the mountain you’re trying to climb. According to Doerr, an objective should be significant, concrete, and—this is the big one—inspirational. If your objective is "Increase revenue by 5%," you've already lost. That’s boring. No one gets out of bed for 5%.
The Key Results are the "How." These are the benchmarks that tell you if you're actually getting closer to the mountain. They must be measurable and verifiable. There is no "kinda" here. You either hit the number or you didn't.
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A Quick Reality Check on Structure
In the book, Doerr emphasizes that "less is more." You should have maybe three to five objectives per cycle. Each objective gets three to five key results. If you have twenty objectives, you don't have a strategy; you have a to-do list. And to-do lists don't scale.
The Secret Sauce: CFRs
Most people skip the second half of the book, which is a huge mistake. OKRs alone are just numbers on a spreadsheet. To make them work, you need CFRs:
- Conversations: Monthly or quarterly check-ins between managers and employees.
- Feedback: Real-time, peer-to-peer communication to see what’s working.
- Recognition: Celebrating the wins, even the small ones.
Without CFRs, OKRs become a weapon. Managers use them to punish people for missing targets. That’s the "dark side" of the system. Doerr is very clear: OKRs should be a tool for empowerment, not a legal document for performance reviews. In fact, he argues they should be kept separate from compensation entirely. If you tie a bonus to a 100% OKR completion, people will just set easy goals.
Why Google Still Swears by It
Google uses a 0.0 to 1.0 scale.
If you get a 1.0, you probably set your goal too low.
The "sweet spot" is usually 0.6 to 0.7.
This is what Doerr calls Stretch Goals. The idea is to aim for something so big that you might fail. If you're hitting every single goal you set, you're sandbagging. You're playing it safe. Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, used OKRs to track things like "Organizing the world's information." That's not a weekend project.
Real World Examples from the Book
- The Gates Foundation: They used OKRs to track the eradication of polio. They needed clear, measurable results to know if their funding was actually saving lives.
- Bono (ONE Campaign): Even the lead singer of U2 used them. He used OKRs to track debt relief and access to life-saving drugs in Africa. It turned activism into an organized machine.
- Intuit: Used them to shift from desktop software to the cloud.
Where People Get it Wrong (The "Anti-Patterns")
Look, OKRs aren't a magic wand.
One of the biggest criticisms of Measure What Matters—and something you’ll see in reviews by experts like those at Perdoo—is that Doerr sometimes confuses outputs with outcomes.
An output is "Launch a new website."
An outcome is "Get 10,000 new signups from the website."
If you launch the website (output) but no one visits (no outcome), did you really succeed? Probably not. Modern OKR practitioners have had to refine Doerr’s original teachings to focus more on the impact of the work rather than just checking a box.
Another trap? Business as Usual (BAU) OKRs. If your OKR is just "do my job," you're missing the point. OKRs are for change. They are for the big shifts that move the needle.
How to Actually Implement This Tomorrow
If you're sitting there thinking, "Okay, this sounds great, but how do I start?" you need to keep it simple. Don't go out and buy expensive OKR software on day one.
Start with a spreadsheet.
Pick one objective for your team. Just one. Make it something that actually matters—something that, if you achieved it, would change the trajectory of your month. Then, pick three numbers that would prove you did it.
Actionable Steps to Take Now:
- Conduct a "Strategy Audit": Ask your team what the top three priorities are. If you get five different answers, you have an alignment problem.
- Draft Your First "Draft" OKRs: Don't aim for perfection. Write them down, then share them. Transparency is key. Everyone in the company should be able to see everyone else's OKRs. Yes, even the CEO's.
- Schedule Your First CFR: Set a 15-minute meeting with a direct report. Don't talk about status updates. Ask: "What are you blocked on?" and "How can I help you hit your key results?"
- Separate Goals from Pay: Seriously. If you want people to take risks and set "stretch" goals, you cannot fire them for hitting a 0.7.
John Doerr didn't invent a new way to work; he just codified what the best leaders were already doing. He gave us a language for execution. In a world that is getting noisier and more distracted by the second, having a system that forces you to sit down and ask "What actually matters?" isn't just a business strategy.
It’s a survival skill.
You can start by looking at your current project list. If it doesn't align with your top three objectives, cross it off. It’s scary, but that’s the point. As Doerr says, "Ideas are easy. Execution is everything."
If you're ready to move beyond the theory, your next move is to draft one personal OKR for the next 30 days. Make the objective something that scares you a little bit, and make the key results so clear that a stranger could look at them and tell you if you won or lost.