The Operations Debate: Do You Really Need OKRs?

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are one of the most talked about management tools of the 21st century.

It's widely known that Google adopted them in their early days, and they've come to seem like something that all tech businesses should have.

If you're leading a scaleup, you've probably got them, or you're thinking about using them, or you tried them and found they didn't work.

Articles arguing the case for and against OKRs are everywhere. Advocates praise their ability to create focus and cross-functional alignment. Skeptics criticise the difficulty of maintaining them and the way local targets cause people to lose sight of the big picture.

So, who's right?