In this episode, "OKR Best Practices," we had the opportunity to talk to Niroshan Madampitige. He is an Agile Coach, Agile Delivery Expert, OKR Consultant, keynote speaker, and co-author of Double Your Value Through Personal Branding.

Niroshan explains how traditional approaches don't go beyond setting an objective. He believes OKR is pretty agile because it is a collaborative goal-setting approach, and it is a critical thinking framework where you need to talk out loud about what you want to achieve. He emphasizes how before even thinking about implementing OKRs, you need to know precisely "why" you want to achieve your specific objective. He discusses some benefits, including how OKR allows regular cadences across the implementation and lets you go back to make adjustments if necessary.

Mr. Madampitige also goes over some of OKR's superpowers: the Focus, the Alignment, the Commitment, the Tracking and the Stretching (FACTS)

He also explains the difference between aspirational OKRs (ambitions) and committed OKRs and provides different examples. He gives three examples of why OKR implementations fail so often, including: companies have to fix basics such as cultural issues. OKR is a tool, not a weapon.

When talking about the relationship between OKR and culture, Niroshan explains the famous quote by Andy Grove: "The essence of a healthy OKR culture—ruthless intellectual honesty, a disregard for self-interest, deep allegiance to the team."

He believes when it comes to OKR, less is more. You need to pick your priorities based on your capacity. When using OKRs for personal use, he recommends coming up with your personal vision, defining some goals (Why it matters to you), and then your objectives. Be specific on the key results and time box them. Three months is the maximum time horizon to consider your goals.