You’re being misled about the reason for OKR failure. There are countless posts, threads and even blog series on why OKRs fail. Most of them focus on misinterpretations of the framework, but in my experience these kind of mistakes only cover a small proportion of OKR failures.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being an OKR consultant is the terrible advice I see shared. Much of the bad advice is seductive, promising an easy option. Thinking in terms of outcomes is tricky, but it's essential. Here are some examples of the bad advice I see.

Most people think in terms of techniques, the cadence, the format of your KRs etc. In fact the web is full of articles about OKR mistakes. They all talk about techniques, but that’s a red herring.

When I see a product team ‘starting from scratch’ with their OKRs each quarter, it’s a sure sign that there is an absence of product strategy.

Dogma has crept in to the explanation of Key Results and KPIs. The reality is much simpler and more helpful. This brief article explains why.

The tooling has improved since I wrote this post, but the principles remain the same. Good facilitation skills are an important part of your OKR setting sessions.