Thread by @cwodtke

I am against aspirational and committed OKRs. tl;dr on why: the limits of working memory and tessler's law.

What do I recommend instead: consider if you want a moonshot goal or a yoga stretch.

If you have never done yoga, a good teacher will invite you to stretch but NOT hurt yourself. So as you set a goal you can start with what you know you can do but then slowly increase it until you feel the stretch. When you say off this is a bit hard, but not impossible.

I heard stories of a company where they stopped using OKRs because the team would kill themselves each quarter to make the OKRs. Because they couldn't self-regulate I'd suggest they use yoga stretches instead. Here the manager would coach them down from their moonshot goal.

The thing is:
* business is a marathon not a sprint
* you do not want to burn people out
* employees are NOT disposable; there is a talent shortage out there.
* Hiring and training and institutional knowledge is suck costs you do not want to have to recoup.

and yet
* you do want to increase what you can do and increase success
* you do want continuous improvement
* you do want employees focused on what is critical for the company

So getting the stretch right-sized matters.

One quarter it might be a moonshot, if that's what the company needs. But if its every quarter, it's what we call a deathmarch.
It's ok if OKRs are harder one quarter than another. It's even ok if one quarter there aren't any, and you integrate your learning into the company.

Part of being a leader, perhaps the biggest part is navigating these nuanced decisions. Do not use OKR lore as if it were a rigid operating system. Use it, adapt it, make it work for your goals and culture.

(just try the Radical Focus way at least once before modding? k?)