The OKRs Field Book; Ben Lamorte

Coming in 2022, this will be the first book dedicated to OKRs coaching. This is not an introduction to OKRs. Instead, this book is written for external and internal coaches looking to take their OKRs coaching skills to the next level. It provides a comprehensive framework to guide users through the phases and steps of an OKRs coaching engagement.

Objectives and Key Results; Paul Niven & Ben Lamorte

Objectives and Key Results is the first full-fledged reference guide on OKRs, a critical thinking framework designed to help organizations create value through focus, alignment, and better communication. You’ll learn how OKRs came to be and how leading companies use OKRs to help teams and employees stretch their thinking about what’s possible, build their goal-setting muscles and achieve results that reflect their full potential. From the basic framework to a detailed dissection of best practices, this informative guide walks you through real-world implementations to help you get the most out of OKRs. Includes detailed OKR case studies from FlipKart, Sears, Zalando, TaxSlayer, CareerBuilder, and GoNoodle!

Radical Focus; Christina Wodtke

Christina Wodtke, my OKRs colleauge, design expert, and overall amazing person published a highly readable OKRs book in a narrative style earlier in 2016. I’m hearing that this book is actually being given as a present for the holiday season!

The book features essays from several OKR experts. If you spot my essay in the book, send a note to Ben@OKRs.com and let me know what you think!

Measure What Matters; John Doerr

John Doerr, Silicon Valley Legend, shares stories ranging from how he introduced OKRs to Google around a Ping Pong table to how Bono and the Gates Foundation use OKRs! Get this book immediately if you’re interested in learning about OKRs.

And, be sure to check out the audio version as well. Doerr is the narrator and you get to hear OKRs stories from the field spoken by various business leaders.

Speed & Scale; John Doerr

What if the goal-setting techniques that powered the rise of today’s most innovative organizations were brought to bear on humanity’s greatest challenge? Fueled by a powerful tool called Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), SPEED & SCALE offers an unprecedented global plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions before it’s too late. Used by Google, Bono’s ONE foundation, and thousands of startups the world over, OKRs have scaled ideas into achievements that changed the world. With clear-eyed realism and an engineer’s precision, Doerr identifies the measurable OKRs we need to reduce emissions across the board and to arrive by 2050 at net zero—the point where we are no longer adding to the heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere. 

Outcomes Over Output; Joshua Seiden

In the old days, when we made physical products, setting project goals wasn’t that hard. But in today’s service – and software-driven world, “done” is less obvious. When is Amazon done? When is Google done? Or Facebook? In reality, services powered by digital systems are never done. So then how do we give teams a goal that they can work on? Mostly, we simply ask teams to build features – but features are the wrong way to go. We often build features that create no value. Instead, we need to give teams an outcome to achieve.

Using outcomes creates focus and alignment. It eliminates needless work. And it puts the customer at the center of everything you do. Setting goals as outcomes sounds simple, but it can be hard to do in practice. This book is a practical guide to using outcomes to guide the work of your team.