Close the gap between ambitious goals and the messy reality of execution. Lean OKRs, strategy execution and software leadership by Bart den Haak, author of Moving the Needle with Lean OKRs.https://www.movingtheneedle.com/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/move-the-needle-with-ai-lean-okrs-as-a-forcing-constraint/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/move-the-needle-with-ai-lean-okrs-as-a-forcing-constraint/Most organisations say they're using AI - copilots, pilots, impressive demos - yet the business looks the same. The problem is rarely the model or the talent. It's intent. How Lean OKRs force AI to actually change how work gets done.Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTOKRsStrategyTechnical LeadershipOKRsAIStrategyhttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/from-average-to-exceptional/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/from-average-to-exceptional/This is the story of an average, low-performing software development team that wasn’t even aware they had fallen into the rut of the daily grind, faced a huge backlog of deliverables and hadn’t released any new software to production for more than six months. Yet with the application of behavioral sTue, 14 Mar 2023 09:51:31 GMTHRCultureDevOpsTechnical LeadershipLeadershipTDDBehaviourhttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again/Objectives and Key Results. A 40-year old, simple goal-setting framework, initially created by and for technology companies that needed to innovate at the speed of light. They are still wildly relevant today, some four decades later, and when used correctly, they can help you to achieve 10x growth. Tue, 25 Oct 2022 14:43:16 GMTOKRsHROKRsLeadershiphttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-final-part/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-final-part/Objectives and Key Results. A 40-year old, simple goal-setting framework, initially created by and for technology companies that needed to innovate at the speed of light. They are still wildly relevant today, some four decades later, and when used correctly, they can help you to achieve 10x growth. Fri, 01 Apr 2022 15:19:24 GMTOKRsHROKRsLeadershipmultihttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-part-3/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-part-3/Objectives and Key Results. A 40-year old, simple goal-setting framework, initially created by and for technology companies that needed to innovate at the speed of light. They are still wildly relevant today, some four decades later, and when used correctly, they can help you to achieve 10x growth. Mon, 14 Mar 2022 16:31:26 GMTOKRsHROKRsLeadershipmultihttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-part-2/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-part-2/Objectives and Key Results. A 40-year old, simple goal-setting framework, initially created by and for technology companies that needed to innovate at the speed of light. They are still wildly relevant today, some four decades later, and when used correctly, they can help you to achieve 10x growth. Thu, 03 Mar 2022 11:21:42 GMTOKRsHROKRsLeadershipmultihttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-part-1/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/making-okrs-lean-again-part-1/Objectives and Key Results. A 40-year old, simple goal-setting framework, initially created by and for technology companies that needed to innovate at the speed of light...Wed, 23 Feb 2022 19:03:00 GMTOKRsHROKRsLeadershipmultihttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/the-10-most-used-kpis-that-every-ctos-in-fintech-product-led-companies-need-to-monitor-and-influence-in-order-to-improve-their-performance-in-2021/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/the-10-most-used-kpis-that-every-ctos-in-fintech-product-led-companies-need-to-monitor-and-influence-in-order-to-improve-their-performance-in-2021/Key Performance Indicators (KPI) often function as the main framework for the many measurables that your organisation collects or otherwise keeps track of. But which KPIs will actually help you answer the critical questions that will help your company increase revenue and reduce costs?Fri, 27 Aug 2021 07:12:45 GMTKPIsOKRsTechnical LeadershipStrategyKPIshttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2020/09/okr-software-is-a-scam/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2020/09/okr-software-is-a-scam/You don’t need dedicated OKR Software, so don’t fall into this trap. Organising your goals into Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) is supposed to be simple. Very simple, that’s why it works. If you make OKRs too complicated by having too many, or when you have too many layers in your organisation, yoSun, 20 Sep 2020 19:41:18 GMTOKRsTechnical LeadershipOKRsSoftwarehttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2020/03/mission-impossible-okrs-to-the-rescue/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2020/03/mission-impossible-okrs-to-the-rescue/Many organizations that make the decision to start with OKRs make the same mistake: too many OKRs at the executive level.Thu, 05 Mar 2020 08:58:56 GMTOKRsTechnical LeadershipOKRsBAUFocushttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2020/01/barriers-to-growth/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2020/01/barriers-to-growth/You want your company to grow. That desire could be driven by shareholders and investors, your own ambition or your exit strategy. So what do you do? You hire a bunch of growth hackers to get your inbound and outbound marketing up to speed, hire some killer sales reps and do some pricing tricks. ThiWed, 08 Jan 2020 13:15:57 GMTOKRsTechnical LeadershipGrowthOKRsGrowthComplexityhttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/12/pragmatic-goals-need-innovation/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/12/pragmatic-goals-need-innovation/In the pursuit of your mission and vision, in life as well as in business, the individuals that see the best return on their efforts are those that have laid the framework from getting from point A to point B with pragmatic goals.Wed, 04 Dec 2019 20:16:48 GMTInnovationTechnical LeadershipInnovationOKRshttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/okr-check-in-learning-curve-what-to-expect-in-the-first-year-quarterly-cadence/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/okr-check-in-learning-curve-what-to-expect-in-the-first-year-quarterly-cadence/You’ve recently started with OKRs, defined company-level OKRs and your teams already have linked OKRs. You are ready to start your first OKR cycle. What things can you expect when you perform your OKR check-ins? Let’s look at different stages of your OKR implementation.Thu, 28 Nov 2019 15:00:48 GMTOKRsTechnical LeadershipStrategyOKRsLearningRoadmaphttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/what-to-do-when-every-priority-is-critical/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/what-to-do-when-every-priority-is-critical/I often come across companies where everything is a top priority. Let’s take a look at a fictional corporation, Acme Bank, where revenue was low last quarter. Like many, their natural response is to cut expenses.Thu, 21 Nov 2019 11:22:20 GMTStrategyTechnical LeadershipOKRsOKRsPrioritieshttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/eight-tips-to-improving-accountability-with-weekly-okr-check-ins/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/eight-tips-to-improving-accountability-with-weekly-okr-check-ins/You find yourself sitting at your desk, scratching your head. What is going on? You thought you were clear and fair. You repeated it so many times. How is it possible that your teams still don’t do what you expect of them?Thu, 14 Nov 2019 09:59:24 GMTTechnical LeadershipOKRsOKRsAccountabilityhttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/okr-check-ins-making-consistent-meaningful-progress/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/11/okr-check-ins-making-consistent-meaningful-progress/People hate uncertainty. Research has proven that people can experience stress and illness when dealing with ambiguity and obscurity. Our brain appreciates certainty the same as food, sex, and social connections. We humans are rather predictable creatures, ruled by genetics and time-honoured survivaWed, 06 Nov 2019 09:53:52 GMTTechnical LeadershipStrategyOKRsOKRsProgresshttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/10/organisational-culture-shock-introducing-okrs/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/10/organisational-culture-shock-introducing-okrs/So, you have recently heard about this new management goal-setting method called OKRs and you are really eager to implement them within your organization. If Google and all of the other big tech giants are using them, then they need to be good right? So, what do you do next?Wed, 30 Oct 2019 11:27:26 GMTTechnical LeadershipCultureOKRsCulturehttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/10/slingshot-your-okr-success/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/10/slingshot-your-okr-success/Last week I was a guest in the Fit Bots webinar where I talked about "Slingshot your OKR Success".Wed, 23 Oct 2019 14:59:28 GMTStrategyOKRsConferenceOKRshttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/10/getting-the-grade-tracking-okr-confidence-levels/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/10/getting-the-grade-tracking-okr-confidence-levels/Time Travel Travel back in time with me for a moment. It’s New Year’s Eve and you are watching the fireworks in the sky with your friends. You are holding a glass of champagne in your hand and making some promises to your friends. “This year I’ll quit smoking”, one friend says. Another promise alouThu, 17 Oct 2019 09:04:34 GMTOKRsTechnical LeadershipTrackinghttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/07/it-spring-2019-okr-commitment-square/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/07/it-spring-2019-okr-commitment-square/Check out my talk at IT Spring 2019. In this presentation, I talk about how to use OKRs for strategy and how to use a tool called the OKR commitment square to execute your OKR check-ins.Wed, 10 Jul 2019 14:15:59 GMTOKRsOKR Check-insConferencehttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/06/clarity-with-a-single-okr/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/06/clarity-with-a-single-okr/“Focus is the thing that makes the difference between excelling and flailing about in mediocrity” ~ Christina Wodtke.Tue, 04 Jun 2019 19:53:32 GMTStrategyTechnical LeadershipOKRsOKRsStrategyFocushttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/04/how-to-run-a-successful-okr-check-in/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/04/how-to-run-a-successful-okr-check-in/Last week Perdoo founder Henrik-Jan van der Pol asked me to describe how teams can run a successful OKR check-in. OKR Check-ins are the key ingredient of any successful OKR implementation. But they are hard to do. You need to run them at least weekly, come well prepared and make sure your team membeTue, 02 Apr 2019 14:33:10 GMTOKRsOKR Check-insOKRsCheck-inshttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/01/implementing-okrs-vision-of-8-okr-experts/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2019/01/implementing-okrs-vision-of-8-okr-experts/I was asked to contribute to the after-movie of the Amsterdam OKR forum. Check it out.Thu, 17 Jan 2019 21:34:17 GMTStrategyOKRsTechnical LeadershipConferencehttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2018/08/closing-the-gap-between-strategy-and-agile-teams-an-interview-with-bart-den-haak/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2018/08/closing-the-gap-between-strategy-and-agile-teams-an-interview-with-bart-den-haak/Read my interview with Workpath on this important topic.Sun, 12 Aug 2018 10:26:26 GMTTechnical LeadershipStrategyOKRshttps://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2017/04/devops-new/https://www.movingtheneedle.com/blog/2017/04/devops-new/In this blog, I look at the rich history behind DevOps, which goes back over 200 years.Fri, 14 Apr 2017 21:18:35 GMTDevOpsLeanDevOps