Let’s reflect on a situation where a founder executes a particular plan.
According to the principles of Objectives and Key Results [1] [2], she must have outlined a set of objectives and desired key results.
This means she has clearly defined key results that are measurable and easy to communicate to herself and her colleagues.
As the plan progresses, unexpected results and new information/lessons may create a wall in her path.
It is challenging because it may have to do with information that signals a change in the nature of the plan.
An easier way to see this is to consider that the plan of now impacts tomorrow’s plan.
But in reality, as projects are executed, new information can challenge the objective. These are situations that can make one happy or frustrated.
In a successful situation: A founder executes her activities, moving towards key results, and then easily figures out solutions to a variety of problems.
Now consider the opposite situation where a set of activities happens, but she hits a wall that does not look like good news. This time, there is no direct connection to good news or auto-promotion ideas. This situation shows that her plan is incorrect and raises alarms.
There is a logic missing there.
When random forces align to produce a positive impact on a plan, why do we attribute that to our own merit? Why do we not acknowledge that there may have been issues with the plan itself? Similarly, why do we care to punish ourselves when our plans don’t do well in a case where there are no random forces to guide the potentially flawed plan?
I hope that this reflection can help us be more aware of how we evaluate ourselves.
The idea of working with metrics as goals is undoubtedly good - that working towards Key Results is a good thing. On the other hand, we should get better at doing a parallel reflection that considers the lessons we learn in our paths.
We may consider doing a better job celebrating (and documenting) any new lessons and information. Being able to propose changes at the higher order of things is good. We need to respect the fact that a plan exists to emerge new learnings. That a plan exists to let us replan the course of actions.
Video reflection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAaX_o3mo5A
References - Objectives and Key Results
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OKR
[2] https://www.harrisonmetal.com/classes/gm2-setting-goals-measuring-performance