tl;dr: More brain dumping on the intersection of DAOs and OKRs
I will admit that when I first assumed the responsibilities as CMO of Gtmhub, I really suffered for a while with an identity crisis.
Given my passion for crypto, the idea that I would “take a step back” and work at a Web 2.0 company, one that was centralized and, when it was successful, would create a massive data repository, made me feel extremely uncomfortable.
I felt like a hypocrite. And perhaps I am because as Upton Sinclair said,
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
Upton Sinclair
That being said, my CEO said to me a few things that were persuasive:
- “OKRs are a methodology that is valuable for everyone. You can become an expert.”
- “You can’t do OKRs at scale on a blockchain.” (He’s right about that)
- “Someone is going to do this, so you may as well be on the winning team and help shape the future of it.”
So, I jumped in and, well, I’m glad I did. Not only because I get to work with amazing people in an organization that is committed to outcomes but because I have learned more about the alignment between strategy and execution this past year than in any year prior.
DAOs and OKRs
And now, I am starting to see that there’s a LOT more synergy between OKRs and the crypto world than I thought or ever would have guessed.
You see, every single Decentralized Autonomous Organization-DAO- as well as every other, centralized company in the cryptoverse is going to eventually adopt the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) methodology.
It’s perfect for digital-native organizations that are highly distributed and highly autonomous.
The challenge-and the opportunity- is to figure out how, absent a command-and-control structure, a DAO (regardless of its underlying governance system) can create a culture that is relentlessly focused on outcomes, based on decentralized accountability, transparency, collaboration and a mindset of “stretching” to overachieve while recognizing that coming short of an ambitious goal can still be viewed as success.
After all, there are many teams at the beginning of the year who have the goal of winning the Super Bowl. Only one does, but plenty of them go farther in the playoffs (or have better seasons) when they push themselves.
In a “traditional” (i.e. centralized) organization, it is ideal to have a collaborative process in developing the OKRs for a quarter or a year. Ideally, a senior leader will set the broadest OKR and then, other members of the organization will work with each other (and leadership) to identify appropriate OKRs which leverage the individual’s strength while aligning with the most important organizational objectives.
When it works, and it takes a fair amount of practice-like diet, exercise, and meditation-it’s an incredibly liberating and empowering way of working.
Self-motivated vs. Other Motivated OKRs
Still, as the CMO, I can “tell” people that they need to finish their OKRs by a certain date and, if they don’t, well we have an issue.
In a DAO, however, there’s no one I can “tell” to do it. I can suggest it, I can lead by example, but the others in the group can basically say “OKRs are stupid” and ignore it. DAOs have a coordination problem/challenge.
This is where, I suspect, decentralized reputation starts to come in.
The first quarter or two (or whatever time period is chosen), there will be little difference between someone who uses OKRs and someone who doesn’t. However, and this is just a guess w/no data behind it, I think that those who start to use the OKR methodology for their own work as a basis for communication of strategy, updates on executional progress and decision-making, as well as facilitating collaboration will-eventually, like compounding interest-begin to accrue additional and outsized organizational reputation.
That is because OKRs, like diet, exercise, and meditation, will work if done consistently. They cannot not work.
So, the proverbial “10x engineer” who doesn’t care about OKRs will eventually get outperformed by a “regular engineer” who does. Eventually.
At least that’s the theory.
But if it’s right, then the culture of OKRs will start to spread among the DAO members, driving alignment around the mission and consistent execution.
The good news is that we have an opportunity to see how this works.
I have submitted a proposal to serve as the marketing advisor to Nexus Mutual. My colleague and I published our marketing strategy (and budget) using the OKR framework.
The era of DAOkr is here (I hope).
And if/when it eventually works, all of crypto will be better served…and that will make the initial struggle worthwhile.
