Succeeding with OKRs in Agile
Succeeding with OKRs in Agile
How to create & deliver Objectives Key Results for teams
About the Book
Popularised by Google and Intel OKRs - objectives and key results - are an increasingly popular approach to agreeing goals in, and across, teams. In this book we look what OKRs are and how the approach can be combined with agile.
About the Author
Bundles that include this book
Table of Contents
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- Work in Progress
- About you, my reader
- Free Book
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I Why OKRs
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1. Why use OKRs?
- 1.1 Focus
- 1.2 Mid-term planning
- 1.3 Test Driven OKRs
- 1.4 Communication
- 1.5 Warning
- 1.6 Summary
- 2. A little OKR history
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1. Why use OKRs?
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II Context
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3. Strategy
- 3.1 Agile makes strategy more important
- 3.2 Opportunity cost
- 3.3 What not to do
- 3.4 Not forgetting the technology
- 3.5 Shared mental model
- 3.6 Team cohesion
- 3.7 Summary
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4. Leaders
- 4.1 Culture, goals and strategy elements
- 4.2 Day-to-day
- 4.3 Forward planning
- 4.4 Culture
- 4.5 Summary
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5. Culture
- 5.1 Delivery culture
- 5.2 Customers
- 5.3 Openness and feedback
- 5.4 Ambition
- 5.5 Summary
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6. Outcome, value, benefit
- 6.1 Benefit
- 6.2 Value
- 6.3 Nature of value
- 6.4 Outcomes not to-dos
- 6.5 Summary
- 7. What is value?
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3. Strategy
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III Writing OKRs
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8. Writing OKRs
- 8.1 Team setting
- 8.2 Limited number
- 8.3 Priority
- 8.4 Effort
- 8.5 Avoid planning by OKR
- 8.6 Trouble with pre-work
- 8.7 When to set
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9. Objectives
- 9.1 Background analysis
- 9.2 Value
- 9.3 Obvious value
- 9.4 Wide objectives
- 9.5 Feature factories
- 9.6 One for the team
- 9.7 Testing trouble
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10. Key results
- 10.1 Example
- 10.2 Test driven
- 10.3 Binary or analogue?
- 10.4 Summary
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11. Measuring
- 11.1 Quantify
- 11.2 Measuring the impossible
- 11.3 Removing the subjectivity
- 11.4 Unintended consequences
- 11.5 Don’t boil it down
- 11.6 Summary
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12. Key result tricks
- 12.1 Experiments
- 12.2 Hypothesis driven development
- 12.3 Time-boxed
- 12.4 Survey
- 12.5 Knowing when to stop
- 12.6 Summary
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13. OKR planning cycle
- 13.1 When to set
- 13.2 Start late
- 13.3 End of quarter review
- 13.4 Product Owner
- 13.5 Summary
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8. Writing OKRs
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IV Working with OKRs
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14. Organizing to deliver OKRs
- 14.1 OKRs everywhere
- 14.2 Sprint planning with OKRs
- 14.3 Traffic lights and status
- 14.4 Summary
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15. OKRs and The Backlog
- 15.1 OKRs not backlogs
- 15.2 Backlog First
- 15.3 OKRs First
- 15.4 Return of the Sprint Goal
- 15.5 Summary
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16. BAU “Keeping the lights on”
- 16.1 Option 1: Suppress BAU
- 16.2 Option 2: Reduce/remove BAU
- 16.3 Option 3: Make BAU better
- 16.4 Option 4: Objective Zero, add BAU
- 16.5 Downside
- 16.6 Summary
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17. Executing against OKRs
- 17.1 Keeping focus
- 17.2 Prioritise
- 17.3 Visual display
- 17.4 Revisit often: Sprint planning
- 17.5 Time slice
- 17.6 Summary
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18. Going off-piste
- 18.1 Unplanned but valuable
- 18.2 Prepare for the unexpected
- 18.3 Track distractions
- 18.4 Summary
- 19. Joining up OKRs and other planning TODO
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14. Organizing to deliver OKRs
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V Problems with OKRs
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20. Aspirations
- 20.1 Utility mode
- 20.2 Creating aspirations?
- 20.3 Leaders and culture
- 20.4 An OKRs adoption route
- 20.5 Exercise: Where are you?
- 20.6 Summary
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21. Every day pitfalls
- 21.1 OKR buffet
- 21.2 Late arriving OKRs
- 21.3 Adding to the story hierarchy
- 21.4 Counting problems
- 21.5 Respect for specialists
- 21.6 Respect for managers
- 21.7 Summary
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22. Trouble with targets
- 22.1 Targeting the measurable
- 22.2 Questions measurement can’t answer
- 22.3 Targets change
- 22.4 Overcoming tunnel vision
- 22.5 Summary
- 23. OKR Dangers TODO
- 24. Finally
- Quick Dos and Don’ts
- About this book
-
Further reading
- Management
- Also by Allan Kelly
- Version history
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20. Aspirations
- Notes
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