Unlocking Outhouse’s Potential with OKRs 

Prologue

A few years ago, I found myself at a crossroads. As a partner at Outhouse, I had always prided myself on being a hands-on leader who could inspire creativity and innovation. But despite our successes, I started to feel like we were missing something—a clear, cohesive strategy that could unite our diverse teams around common goals. We were a group of talented individuals, but without a consistent framework to guide our efforts, we often struggled with direction, focus, and accountability. 

Meetings would drag on without concrete outcomes, projects would lose momentum, and our best ideas sometimes got lost in the shuffle. It was frustrating, and I knew we needed a change—a way to harness the full potential of our team and drive Outhouse forward. 

That’s when I discovered OKRs—Objectives and Key Results. I came across them while reading about how companies like Google and Intel had used this framework to achieve remarkable success. The concept was simple but powerful: set clear, ambitious objectives, define measurable key results to track progress, and align everyone around these goals. 

The idea sparked something in me. I saw OKRs as the path forward—a way to bring clarity and purpose to every level of our organization, from leadership to management, product development, and our creative teams. 

Implementing OKRs wasn’t without its challenges. It required a shift in how we thought about goals and accountability. But once we committed to the process, the transformation was undeniable. Suddenly, we had a shared language for success. Our objectives were no longer vague aspirations—they were clear, actionable targets that everyone understood and could rally around. 

OKRs didn’t just help us set goals; they changed how we worked together. Our teams became more focused, our meetings more productive, and our projects more impactful. We were no longer pulled in a hundred different directions—instead, we moved forward with purpose and confidence. 

In this series of blog posts, I’ll share the journey we took at Outhouse to implement OKRs and how they helped us thrive in a competitive market. If you’ve ever felt like your team could achieve more but just needed the right framework, then this series is for you. 

Let’s explore how OKRs can make a real difference—not just in theory, but in the day-to-day realities of running a successful business. 

1. Introducing OKRs: Understanding Why You Should Adopt Them 

Why write a series of blog posts about Objectives and Key Results, or OKRs? At first glance, OKRs might seem like just another goal-setting methodology. But let me tell you, they are so much more. OKRs are a powerful tool that can transform how you execute your business strategy, driving focus, alignment, contribution, and velocity within your team. 

When Silicon Valley startups realized that OKRs were behind the meteoric rise of companies like Google, LinkedIn, and Amazon, a wave of businesses rushed to adopt them, hoping to capture even a fraction of that success. And here at Outhouse, we’ve experienced firsthand the impact OKRs can have, especially in the competitive home-building market. 

In this first post, we’ll explore how the best companies use OKRs to harness that magic. We’ll start with the basics: the OKR framework, the philosophy behind it, the four goals of OKRs, and the incredible benefits you might be missing out on by not adopting them in your organization. 

Let’s Start with a Question—or Four! 

As Ken Coleman wisely said, “Good questions inform. Great questions transform.” Throughout our OKR journey at Outhouse, we’ve discovered four key questions that help us set successful OKRs: 

1. What do we most want to achieve?
   What’s the right objective for our current goals and challenges? 
2. How do we want to measure success?  
   What metrics will best show our progress and success? 
3. What initiatives will get us there?  
   Are we working on the right initiatives to achieve this objective? 
4. What’s the most efficient way to accomplish this?  
   Are we completing these initiatives as efficiently as possible?   

Is your objective to create a thriving business? What does “thriving” mean to you? Is it growing your user base? By how much? Is it increasing revenue? By what percentage? Is it improving retention? For how long? Combining an aspirational objective with quantitative results and focused initiatives allows you to set inspiring, measurable, and achievable goals. 

But setting a great goal is only half the battle. As a leader, your challenge is ensuring that your organization lives that goal every day. The real power of the OKR system lies in figuring out how to embed those goals into the daily, weekly, and quarterly rhythm of your company—into everything from planning meetings and status updates to celebrating achievements along the way. 

Are you ready to start implementing OKRs in your business? Let’s dive into the basics! 

The OKR Framework 

OKRs are built around three core elements: 

1. Objective: Where do we want to go? 
2. Key Results: What are the measurable outcomes we need to get there? 
3. Initiatives: What do we need to do to achieve those results? 

The Objective is the goal of the company, team, or individual. Key Results are the measurable benchmarks that indicate progress toward the Objective. Initiatives are the tasks you need to perform to achieve those results—essentially, your “to-do list.” This framework is applied from the top of the organization down. Starting with an overall company Objective, each group or team sets their OKRs, and individual employees often have OKRs as well. This cascading interplay of goals keeps everyone aligned and moving in the same direction. 

The OKR Philosophy 

OKRs aren’t just about setting goals—they embody a unique belief system that sets them apart from other goal-setting methodologies: 

• Ambitious: Objectives are meant to inspire, set just beyond what seems possible. Achieving 70-80% of a stretch goal is considered a success, not a failure. The idea is to push boundaries and aim high. 
• Measurable: Key Results are tied to tangible milestones and outcomes. They remove ambiguity, providing a clear picture of progress. 
• Transparent: OKRs are visible across the organization, from the CEO down to the newest intern. This openness fosters accountability and alignment, ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction. 

This approach to goal setting was pioneered by Andy Grove at Intel and was later popularized by John Doerr, who introduced OKRs to Google. Today, thousands of organizations—from Spotify to the United States Navy—use OKRs as a central part of their management strategy. 

The Goals of OKRs 

When setting OKRs, it’s not just about listing tasks—it’s about strategic focus and collaboration: 

• Focusing Efforts: OKRs are designed to be strategic rather than a mere checklist of tasks. They help identify the most critical business objectives, ensuring that your team’s efforts are concentrated on what truly matters. Strategy, as they say, is as much about deciding what not to do as it is about deciding what to do. With OKRs, discipline is key—only the most essential objectives should make the cut. 
• Ensuring Team Collaboration: OKRs are structured to maximize teamwork, driving focused collaboration across the organization. The transparency inherent in OKRs, where everyone can see each other’s objectives and key results, fosters a culture of openness and alignment. It’s about everyone rowing in the same direction. 
• Making Measurable Contributions: Key Results should be quantitative, providing clear evidence of progress. This removes subjectivity, allowing your team to see exactly how they’re advancing toward their goals. 
• Driving the Company Forward: Ultimately, the success of your company hinges on achieving your goals. OKRs are the roadmap that keeps you moving forward, ensuring that every step you take is in the right direction. 

The Benefits of OKRs 

There’s a saying that “the simpler, the better,” and OKRs embody this philosophy, bringing tremendous benefits to those who implement them: 

• OKRs Are Easy to Understand: Their simplicity is one of the biggest advantages. With just three elements—Objectives, Key Results, and Initiatives—OKRs cut through the noise. Unlike other performance management frameworks bogged down by jargon, OKRs are straightforward, making them easy to grasp and adopt. 
• OKRs Demand Focus on What Matters Most: OKRs help you zero in on the most crucial priorities, guiding your team’s energy toward what truly matters. This focus not only drives performance but also empowers you to say no to tempting distractions that don’t align with your strategic goals. 
• OKRs Foster Agility and Readiness for Change: OKRs typically operate on a quarterly cycle, allowing for frequent reassessment of priorities. In a fast-changing world, this shorter cadence ensures that your business remains agile, able to adapt quickly to new information and evolving circumstances. 
• OKRs Promote Transparency and Alignment: With OKRs, transparency is key. Corporate-level objectives are visible to everyone, and team or departmental OKRs are shared across the organization. This openness encourages cross-functional collaboration and alignment, ensuring synchronization of every team’s efforts. 
• OKRs Facilitate Conversation and Drive Engagement: OKRs aren’t just handed down from the top—they involve input from all levels of the organization. This inclusive approach fosters engagement, as team members feel ownership over their goals. When it comes time to review results, these conversations can boost morale and reveal opportunities for growth and development. 
• OKRs Encourage Visionary Thinking and a Growth Mindset: At Outhouse, we believe in the power of a growth mindset—a belief that success comes from hard work, learning from failure, and continuously striving for improvement. OKRs embody this philosophy, encouraging audacious goal-setting and a willingness to step out of comfort zones. This mindset is crucial for thriving in today’s competitive environment. 

In Summary 

At Outhouse, we’re fortunate to have a team full of visionary, intelligent, and creative people. But over time, we realized that great ideas alone weren’t enough—we needed a better way to organize and prioritize our efforts. It’s easy to fall into the trap of starting too many projects at once, spreading ourselves too thin. OKRs have allowed us to continue pushing the envelope on innovation while forcing us to focus on the ideas that will have the greatest impact on our company and our clients. 

We believe your business can benefit from implementing OKRs as well. With the right focus, alignment, and execution, you can achieve extraordinary results. 

Next up… Preparing for Our OKR Journey!