On How to Get OKRs Right by Forgetting About Features

If you want to get OKRs right, you must first understand and focus on the problem, know how the customer measures that problem, and forget about features.

In this episode, Jenny Herald is joined by Mike Pilawski, the Chief Product Officer at Smallpdf where he leads product, design, and data teams. Prior to joining Smallpdf, Mike has held leadership roles in product, engineering, marketing, and data at Typeform, Leanplum, Vungle, and NativeX.

Listen in to learn how OKRs can work great for you if you focus on the problem and if you know how your customer measures the problem. You will also learn about the two camps concerning OKRs and performance management and why teams should celebrate OKRs. 

“The more mature and experienced people you have on the team, the less processes and control you need.” — Mike [21:33]

Show notes

• [1:48] Mike on his love for building and data, plus his journey in the tech world.
• [8:12] The different reasons that lead to technical or organizational debt.
• [15:44] The important factors to consider when designing organizational blueprints.
• [23:56] How to build values on your company by focusing on choices people have to make.
• [29:30] How to measure the customers’ problem; and then give your team the freedom to work out the best solution.
• [35:28] How not to isolate engineers/product developers from the customers.
• [40:19] The importance of KPIs as a metric plus Mike describes his team’s OKRs review process.
• [46:47] Understanding the two camps concerning OKRs and performance management.