In 2019, Product Narrative engaged with a company within GOJEK group*, a company that has been instrumental to provide one of the most crucial pillars in online commerce: a simple, reliable, and secure payment solution. After coaching several of their team members (close to 20 people in the span of 6–8 weeks), we gathered their feedback about their experience adopting OKR. *GOJEK group is a Southeast Asian on-demand multi-service platform and digital payment technology group. And, it's considered one of Asia tech unicorns.
Below are some of real feedback from both team members and leaders after adopting OKR practice for the first-time, within less than 8 weeks.
1. Ms. LH (initial) — a team lead of seven (7)
“Even when one of my direct reports didn’t attend the meeting, I could see her focus of the week and the actionable steps she needed to take to achieve that by looking at her OKR. It was certainly better than just giving an update on weekly task, of which I still needed to do a lot of asking to find out what their next steps were.”
2. Mr. MF — a team lead of three (3)
“OKR helps in coordinating between team member. If there’s a shared responsibility (or Key Result) between more than one person, OKR helps to clarify the responsibility of each person. For example: if there’s a work that needs to be approved, then there’ll be clarity: when and to whom the work needs to be submitted and who needs to give the approval and when it needs to happen.”
3. Mr. MS — a team lead of four (4)
“Because OKR is visible and transparent, we can see someone’s focus for this week. We can also see someone’s progress and achievement last week, or the weeks before. This can be used as a conversation topic during 1:1 session.
In addition, due to the self-scoring nature of OKR, every team member now has the opportunity to speak up and explain their progress on the past week.”
4. Ms. S — a team member
“OKR made me realize my work actually matters to the company. Because there’s an alignment, I am now much more aware that my work is needed to support the team’s goal, which in turn will help the company reaches its goal.”
5. Ms. F — a team member
“OKR helps me to think in a more structured way. It gives me clarity on which is important and which is urgent. Thus, it helps me to set my priorities: what is the most important thing to achieve this week and how I should work on it. I’m more focused because of OKR.”
