An online workshop on Objectives and Key Results specifically adapted to the needs of cross-functional product teams
About this Event
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are a worldwide phenomenon, helping to drive the success of organizations like Google, Zynga, Oracle, Twitter, and many more. They are particularly suited to driving the alignment necessary for a high-performing cross-functional product team. But if not handled correctly, OKRs can quickly lead to silos, unethical behavior, and demotivation.
During this workshop, you’ll gain first-hand experience creating and using OKRs throughout a simulated quarter-in-the-life of a product team, handling what goes wrong, adjusting course, and managing expectations.
Your teacher is legendary product leader Bruce McCarthy, author of bestseller Product Roadmaps Relaunched: How to Set Direction while Embracing Uncertainty.
Bruce will answer questions like:
What's the difference between an output and a measurable outcome?
What's the difference between OKRs and KPIs?
How Health Metrics complement OKRs
How to grade OKRs and what's a good grade
What's the difference between committed and aspirational OKRs
How to measure things you can't measure
How to plan for things that don't show results until future quarters
How and when to recalibrate OKRs
Who Should Attend
Anyone who is part of or leading a team charged with making a product - or making a product successful, including:
Product managers and product owners
Developers, designers, testers, architects, data scientists, analysts
Marketers, product marketers, lead generators, and sales enablers
Leaders of product management, marketing, and development teams
CPOs, CTOs, CIOs and CMOs
Startup and growth company executives
UX, UI, and research professionals
Agile coaches and scrum masters
Project and program managers
Innovation and transformation teams and team leaders
Included
Over an hour of pre-class videos (yours to keep)
10 homework assignments
4 two-hour live group sessions
Daily Q&A
Free admission to the members-only Product Culture Slack channel
Reusable team OKRs templates in GSheets
Downloadable OKRs cheat sheet for help in the future
Plus a 1:1 Consultation with Bruce
Each participating individual or team will also have the opportunity to book a 1:1 consultation with Bruce after the workshop to review your real-world OKRs issues, get feedback and tips, and ask your burning questions.
The Details
Reformulated and enhanced for virtual group learning, Bruce’s sell-out workshop is quicker, sleeker, and organized into modules ideal for online interaction. We will meet in four 2-hour sessions over 4 consecutive business days.
Before each session you’ll be assigned a few short videos introducing the concepts we will use that day. You’ll also have one or two quick pre-work assignments.
We’ll use our time online each day to break into virtual work teams and collaborate. Teams will share their work for feedback and encouragement from Bruce and the larger group.
There will be plenty of time for group discussion, Q&A, and a dash of humor -- even some arts and crafts!
Topics we will cover:
How to define effective OKRs
How to set annual OKRs and break them down quarterly
How to determine the right level of ambition for your organization
How OKRs drive your product roadmap
How to map OKRs to people and teams
How to make OKRs visible across your organization
How to turn OKRs into action plans
How to monitor and report on OKRs
How to adjust OKRs when things don’t go as planned
How to get buy-in on OKRs from your stakeholders
We’ll also cover the most common what-if scenarios teams experience (or fear):
What if we can’t measure the most important things?
What if we miss our targets?
What if our outputs don’t generate the outcomes we wanted?
What if our direction changes mid-year?
What if we realize our objectives were wrong all along?
Agenda
Day 1
Prework includes 5 short videos, writing a scary story about your experience with goal setting, and a short assignment to draft a few OKRs
Welcome and Scary Goals Stories - spooky and fun!
Align with your team on Ultimate OKRs for your team's product
30 minutes optional Office Hours after the main session
Day 2
Prework includes 2 short videos and 2 assignments to draft Q1 OKRs and Ideas
Align with your team on Q1 OKRs for your team's product
Align with your team on Ideas on how to meet your Q1 OKRs
30 minutes optional Office Hours after the main session
Day 3
Prework includes 2 short videos and 2 assignments to draft Commitments and Health Metrics
Align with your team on Commitments for your team's Q1 OKRs and Ideas
Align with your team on Health Metrics for your team's product
Align across teams on shared Q1 OKRs
30 minutes optional Office Hours after the main session
Day 4
Prework includes 2 short videos and 1 assignment to review your team's simulated Q1 OKRs results
Conduct a Q1 OKRs Progress Review, grade your results, and recalibrate your OKRs and Ideas as needed
Discuss as a group practical steps to improve your team’s practice of OKRs
30 minutes optional Office Hours after the main session
Plus a 1:1 meeting with Bruce.
Your Instructor
Bruce McCarthy helps growing organizations achieve their product visions through consulting, workshops, coaching, and speaking at events around the world. Bruce co-wrote Product Roadmaps Relaunched: How to Set Direction while Embracing Uncertainty and opines regularly about Product Culture.
Links:
Website: ProductCulture.org
Twitter: @d8a_driven
What his Students Say
These are responses after Bruce's last virtual OKRs workshop, given in July 2020 at the Mind of Product virtual conference.
"Discussing and operating OKRs from a product was really great. It made me think about what really matters. Attending the workshop in different days also gave me time to reflect on everything learned."
- Juliana Akemi, Senior Product Manager at Concrete Latinoamérica
"The best part was collaborating with and learning from fellow Product Managers. Particularly that we all came from very different company's while experiencing many similar problems."
- Alex Wack, Product Manager at Finalsite
"I loved the team discussions and debates while trying to align on the OKRs. Makes this much more like a real-life scenario, rather than all theoretical."
- Erika Barber, Head of Product Management & Business Operations at Adobe
"I was able to explain a situation I was in and then talk through how we could apply the lessons learned to tackle that problem with the team is really great. I found it validating to see other product people at really big companies nodding along and being able to empathize with the scenarios that I was looking for insight on. This made me feel like I was in the right place to get some tools and support to solve my problems."
- Brittany Arnett, Senior Product Manager at FormAssembly
"Really useful. Down to earth and practical, clearly given by someone who's done it!"
- Randy Smith, Agile Couch at Signature Agile
FAQ
Feel free to contact us at nina@productculture.com with any questions you may have.
What is the class size?
Max capacity for this workshop will be 16 attendees
Can I bring my team?
Yes! You’ll get more out of it if you practice together and there is a group discount.
Refund policy:
Up to 4 weeks before the 1st day of the workshop : 100% of ticket price
Up to 2 weeks before the 1st day of the workshop : 50% of ticket price
Less than 2 weeks before the 1st day of the workshop: no refund
What if I would prefer an invoice rather than paying online?
Feel free to contact nina@productculture.com and we can make it happen!
Contact
Website: ProductCulture.org
Twitter: @d8a_driven
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucemccarthy/
Feel free to contact us at nina@productculture.com with any questions you may have.