Summary
Coach Elena Zhukova takes an unconventional approach to implementing OKRs at Techramps, balancing quick comprehension and good dialogue with crafting “perfect” OKRs from Day 1.
When Techramps first reached out to Elena Zhukova for strategic advice, the company sent two big documents: a powerpoint presentation with its strategic assumptions, and an Excel spreadsheet listing a hundred projects.
Techramps’ request? “Please help us organize all of this.”
As founder of OKR Poland, Zhukova and her business partner had implemented OKRs in many tech or IT-centric organizations. Techramps was neither; it was a designer and builder of skate parks. They were the best at what they do in Poland, and now had ambitions to enter new markets.
Could OKRs help tie the strategy and the list of projects together?
Focusing on strategy and setting fewer goals
Getting the company to move away from the sprawling list of initiatives wasn’t going to be easy. Zhukova had to start by going back to the basics. Could the team take a step back to clarify the problems they wanted to solve in the long-term? She urged them to think, “What do you want to deliver? Are there customer habits you want to change or business values you want to achieve?”
“After a few sessions,” Zhukova says, “we found five areas that are their strategic focus,” such as increasing market share by entering a new market. The next step was to create a hypothesis: The best way to enter the new market would be to introduce a new product that uses a new technology there.
Once the team had a hypothesis for each of their areas of strategic focus, it was time to set annual and quarterly OKRs. Zhukova recalls narrowing their initial list down to three annual OKRs, and then starting to translate them into their first set of quarterly goals. It soon became evident that they didn’t have the capacity to pursue three annual OKRs, so they decided on one annual OKR and two quarterly OKRs.
Zhukova faced questions around setting fewer goals. The idea that a big company would only focus on one thing was difficult to accept, even after identifying capacity restraints. But it helped to reassure everyone that having one focus to start would make it easier to see how OKRs work. Eventually, they agreed to the limit if they could add goals if needed.
The value of an ‘imperfect’ pilot
Next, Zhukova guided the team to set a simple first OKR: a project to clarify how they calculate their costs. It was far from the perfect OKR — more operational than strategic. It wasn’t solving problems that the company wanted to tackle long-term, but it was extremely important to the company. Zhukova knew that experiencing early success was critical, and this OKR was a simple and meaningful way to familiarize themselves with the OKR methodology. Then they could evolve future OKRs to be more strategic.
It took just one quarter for the process to really click. And Zhukova was surprised to discover how well the OKR methodology suited a company that makes physical products. In IT companies, inefficiencies aren’t always easily quantifiable. But with manufacturing, it’s easier to spot waste. Zhukova was there to guide the company, keeping discussions focused on progress. Someone in the review would say, “Where are we in this goal?” If the answer wasn’t clear, Zhukova would ask, “Why is that? What is the problem underneath?”
By the end of the second quarter, the team was initiating those discussions without her prompts. They embraced more strategic OKRs, even disproving a strategic hypothesis that rendered one of their annual OKRs obsolete.
The ingredients of OKR success
After three consecutive quarters, Zhukova says the company can now carry out reviews and reflections without extensive guidance. The process is faster too. At the beginning of the team’s OKR journey, it took them two days to decide on their goals; now it takes just six hours. The company has also become more profitable, efficient with their practices, and is able to avoid silos.
Zhukova believes the company’s success has largely stemmed from three things:
First, Techramps had a clear “why” for introducing its OKRs. She believes that any organization that wants to introduce OKRs needs to understand what they want to change.
Second, the company had systems in place that made setting Key Results easier. “There was already the necessary data because of their feedback from the customer,” she says. “They tested it, they have this maturity of product, and they really monitor things to answer questions [like] ‘why is this not working?’”
And finally, company leaders were humble and open-minded about the process.
Zhukova says, “I really believe if you have open-mindedness from the beginning” and leaders “who want to learn and change their habits,” amazing transformations can happen.
