How to articulate work against business objectives

7 points by hiven 2 years ago | 6 comments
Hello,

This might sound simple, but I think it’s harder than it seems to effectively articulate how your work is aligned to the business objectives or OKRs. Are there any frameworks, methodologies or otherwise advice on how to do this.

This is to effectively put forward a clear answer when being questioned c by management on how your work supports the business outcomes.

  • nivertech 2 years ago
    OKRs are nice for tracking and measuring them, but they do not explain how to achieve them.

    Trying random product ideas will generate a lot of waste, and will have a very low probability of success.

    You need a highly-skilled and entreprenerial people to be able to fill the gap from the goals with measurable metrics to strategy, plan and execution. Basically you work like a research scientists, making a series of experiments, until you find an idea which moves your KRs.

    This is how I see it:

      Mission
    Objectives
      KRs                            (= goals + measurable metrics)
        Problems/Jobs/Opportunities  (Problem-space, JTBD, OST)
          Ideas                      (Solution-space, Strategy, how to achive KR)
            Step-Projects            (Validation/De-Risking/Experiment or feature delivery)
              Scopes                 (list of related tasks)
                Tasks                (TODOs)
    Terms & Abbreviations:

      KRs:  Key Results
  JTBD: Jobs-To-Be-Done
  OST:  Opportunity Solution Tree
    Also see GIST (Goals-Ideas-Steps-Tasks) framework:

    https://itamargilad.com/gist-framework/

    • hiven 2 years ago
      This is really helpful, thank you for sharing.
    • oconn 2 years ago
      "This might sound simple, but I think it’s harder than it seems to..."

      This 100% – There is so much nuance to getting this right. Aligning:

      Strategy (Business/Product) -> OKRs -> Opportunities -> Work

      is never done well. I'm working to solve this problem with https://vistaly.com – by taking a very visual (and connected) approach to the problem, which is where, in my experience, alignment starts to break down.

      I'm a fan of OSTs for helping with this (https://www.producttalk.org/opportunity-solution-tree/)

      • hiven 2 years ago
        This is really cool, thank you for sharing. The visual element really helps convey the connection.
      • maltalex 2 years ago
        What do you mean by “work against business objectives”?
        • hiven 2 years ago
          What is it you don’t understand from the title and body of the message