E314 | The Power of Customer-Centric OKRs with Josh Seiden & Jeff Gothelf

Quick Summary

Josh Seiden and Jeff Gothelf join Dominic Monkhouse to discuss OKRs and their role in aligning goals with customer needs. They introduce their book, Who Does What By How Much?, and explore balancing OKRs with Business as Usual (BAU) to steer strategy without disruption.

The episode covers securing leadership buy-in, fostering collaboration, and scaling OKRs effectively. With book recommendations and insights on success, this conversation offers practical strategies for achieving meaningful business outcomes.

Summary

On today’s podcast:

Follow Josh Seiden & Jeff Gothelf

Josh Seiden

Website – https://www.joshuaseiden.com/
Medium – https://medium.com/@jseiden
Linkedin – http://www.linkedin.com/in/jseiden
X – https://twitter.com/jseiden

Jeff Gothelf

Website – https://jeffgothelf.com/
Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/gothelf
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jeffgothelf/

Who are Josh Seiden & Jeff Gothelf

Josh Seiden a designer, strategy consultant, coach, author and speaker who has worked with clients including Johnson & Johnson, T. Rowe Price, JP Morgan Chase, SAP, American Express, Fidelity, Hearst, PayPal, Taproot Foundation, and 3M. He helps clients launch new products and services, and create more agile, entrepreneurial organisations. He is co-author of Sense & Respond (Harvard Business Review Press, 2017) which was nominated for Thinkers50 distinction in Innovation, and which Eric Ries, founder of the Lean Startup movement called “a crucial framework for the modern world of business.” He is also the co-author of “Lean UX” (O’Reilly, 2017), which won a Jolt Award, an award given to books that “every serious programmer should read.” Lean UX has become widely recognised as one of the top User Experience books of all time.

Jeff Gothelf is a a leading voice and thought leader on customer centric product development. He helps organisations build better products and executives build the cultures that build better products. He is the co-author of the award-winning book Lean UX (now in it’s 3rd edition) and the Harvard Business Review Press book Sense & Respond. In 2020 he published the critically acclaimed book, Forever Employable. Starting off as a software designer then product manager and finally entrepreneur, Jeff now works as a keynote speaker, trainer, coach, and board advisor helping companies put the customer in the century of every decision.

Takeways

OKRs should be customer-centric and focused on outcomes, not just outputs.
Aligning goals with customer needs leads to better products and services.
Set strategic goals annually and tactical goals quarterly or monthly.
OKR alignment should involve input from all levels of the organisation.
Flexibility, quarterly check-ins, and measurable key results ensure effective implementation.
Foster leadership buy-in, collaboration, and continuous learning for long-term success.

What you’ll learn from Josh Seiden & Jeff Gothelf

03:13 The Power of Customer-Centric OKRs
07:19 Balancing BAU and OKRs
13:53 The Role of Strategy in OKR Implementation
25:15 Setting the Timeframe for Corporate OKRs
30:40 Setting Quarterly Check-ins and Measurable Key Results
32:14 Prioritising Customer-Centric Goals for Changing Customer Behaviour
41:40 Challenges of Collaboration and the Role of Leadership Buy-in
47:00 Starting Small and Gradually Expanding OKR Implementation
49:16 Allocating Time and Effort to OKRs while Maintaining Business as Usual Metrics
56:01 Continuous Learning and Personal Growth for Success