Team Objectives – Overview

Marty Cagan explains why he has largely stopped recommending OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to most companies: the technique is simple, but organizations rarely have the structure it needs to work. He argues three conditions cause the failure: companies still run feature teams rather than empowered product teams, managers set their own objectives that cascade down and fragment cross-functional teams, and leadership is largely absent from guiding product strategy into action. He stresses that successful tech companies succeed because their empowered-team model suits OKRs, not because OKRs alone drive success. The piece serves as an introduction to a series on team objectives, focusing on leadership's role.

01Key takeaways

• Check whether your organization actually empowers teams before adopting OKRs; giving objectives while dictating roadmaps is a mismatch.
• Set team-level objectives rather than separate manager or individual objectives so cross-functional members work toward shared goals.
• Treat empowerment as demanding more leadership, not less: leaders must help turn product strategy into concrete action.
• Don't mistake successful companies' results for proof that the OKR technique itself causes success.
• Expect cross-team collaboration on hard problems and manage it through coaching and servant leadership, not command and control.

02Key sections

Feature teams vs. product teams

OKRs are an empowerment technique, but companies often give teams objectives while still dictating solutions through feature roadmaps with release dates. That mismatch makes the technique a waste of effort.

Manager objectives vs. team objectives

When each functional manager sets separate objectives that cascade to staff, cross-functional team members pull in different directions instead of working on shared team goals. Individual objectives add further dilution.

The role of leadership

Many struggling companies treat empowerment as less management and leave teams to pick objectives unguided. The author argues empowerment requires better, more active leadership.

Correlation and causation

Leading tech companies succeed partly because their empowered-team model fits OKRs; adopting the technique alone on top of an old organization will not change outcomes.

Three prerequisites and the series ahead

Adopting OKRs well requires moving to empowered product teams, using team rather than manager or individual objectives, and leaders actively turning strategy into action. The article previews future topics on collaboration, risk, commitments, and accountability.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.