Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs

In Measure What Matters, John Doerr delves into the interplay between alignment and autonomy in organizational management, positioning these forces as equally pivotal to an organization’s success.

Doerr contends that alignment is important for all organizations. In the context of the book, alignment refers to the synchronized pursuit of common objectives and key results by all members of a company. Alignment, Doerr argues, enhances employee engagement and streamlines efforts toward shared goals. Doerr uses the example of Operation Crush—a coordinated effort by Intel in the 1970s to “crush” their competitor, Motorola—to illustrate that teams who align their efforts can achieve a high degree of coordination and productivity. Objectives and key results (OKRs), naturally, are highly effective at achieving alignment.

At the same time, Doerr claims that a degree of autonomy is imperative for fostering innovation. He argues that innovation rarely originates in management—it “tends to dwell less at the center of an organization than at its edges” (87). Accordingly, it’s important for executives to solicit input from frontline employees. Moreover, he argues that increased autonomy helps employees feel more empowered and motivated.