Jack and Kim walked back to their offices after meeting with Celia’s innovation team. They were filled with the excitement of the team, jazzed to get started. “That team is great,” said Jack. “They will have an awesome solution built in no time!”
Kim gestured Jack into her office. “I think we need to be careful that the team doesn’t get ahead of themselves,” she said. “Bringing creativity to the team through Design Thinking doesn’t mean there isn’t a process to follow.” One of the misnomers of these creative processes – whether it is Design Thinking or Human-Centered Design or Agile – is that delivering a prototype to customers early means that the final product is going out sooner. “Our focus needs to be on discovering the right product to deliver, not on delivering something quicker,” she said.
Jack nodded. “I agree,” he said. “So how will we keep the team on track?”
Measuring Progress
“We need both a goal and a way of measuring progress towards reaching that goal,” replied Kim. “I’ve been reading about a tool for teams who are trying to accomplish big things.” She had been studying how Google pioneered the use of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to keep their team focused on the right things, especially when goals are big and complex. “We work with the team to set an objective, something doable but far reaching; something we have only a 50/50 chance of achieving,” she said.
“Wow, really?” Jack queried. “Won’t that just discourage the team?”
“That’s where the Key Results come into play,” replied Kim. “They establish some metrics of success for tracking and measuring progress. That way, the team sees tangible results and is able to celebrate their successes. And we have a way of reporting progress to management, besides shipping the wrong or half-finished product.”
“Ok, let’s make setting Objectives and Key Results our agenda item for our first team meeting,” said Jack.
“Sounds good,” said Kim. “And I think we need to go into the meeting with a draft objective for this team for them to review and comment on.” She recognized the need for the process to be collaborative, but felt that leadership needed to provide direction. Leadership could establish the “what” they were trying to accomplish. The team could establish the “how” of how they would get there.
Jack stood up. “Great. I’ll call a meeting with Celia to set our OKRs prior to our first team meeting.” Walking out of Kim’s office, Jack was feeling good. They were on the cusp of something great, and he was feeling confident in his and Kim’s ability to manage the team to achieve it.