Fixing OKR Theater Using Agile/Scrum Principles
Many organizations are trying to improve the alignment between strategy and execution with the OKRs framework (Objectives and Key Results). There’s good intent there, but more often than not, looking under the hood, you notice:
OKRs that look more like tasks than strategic objectives – especially by the time they reach working teams
OKRs are used to micro-manage teams and individuals rather than empower and enable them.
Too many OKRs are set without any respect/consideration of the ability to deliver them sustainably while dealing with other work in the organization.
Defining OKRs and then forgetting about them until it's time to grade them. (Even worse, some organizations don’t even bother with a serious consideration of how they did on their OKRs…)
These are smells of "OKR Theater" or "OKRs in Name Only."