💎 An Alternative to OKRs and North Star metrics

Ever find yourself drowning in all the business acronyms? SEO? Sure. ROI? Got it. ROAS? Why not. But when someone slides OKRs across the table claiming it will solve our problems it feels like an ulcer arriving. Endless meetings. Back-and-forth. Templates. Reviews. Edits. It’s like subscribing to the common diet in the corporate wellness program. I've sat through those endless meetings, smiling and nodding, all the while thinking, "This is just fancy talk for 'we don't really know what's going on, but we've got acronyms and we’re doing this!'"

As someone who prefers sanity and focus over the chaotic norm, I've ditched OKRs and North Star metrics with an alternative that’s far less painful yet more effective: Quality, Quantity, and Efficiency metrics, or QQE because let’s face it, acronyms are here to stay like that one friend who overstays their welcome after cracking open the second bottle of wine.

So let's break down this QQE concept.

What is it?

Most companies have either a single North Star or decide to complicate things with the introduction of OKRs. Companies love them because they sound official like you’ve got it all together. But in reality, they often lead to more confusion than clarity. So why do companies choose this one-two punch? Everyone else is doing it. Most operators use what they’ve been taught or learned while scrolling through X.

OKR issues? You mean aside from not knowing what the fuck is going on? They require a ton of time and commitment across the company, usually adding several meetings and processes for every team. Then there’s the North Star metric, which is supposed to simplify things but ends up being like that one diet rule you try to follow but keep forgetting about whenever you see a piece of cake. It’s too restrictive and ignores all the other delicious metrics that could be helping your business thrive.

For example, let’s look at Airbnb. Early days the company focused on ‘Number of Nights Booked’ as their North Star. Brilliant, right? It gauges value for guests and measures the host’s ability to find guests. A win-win.

Except as they grew, so did their problems. As things scaled they learned were unable to keep up with customer inquiries. All of a sudden, the team needed to build an army of 500 Customer Support managers. Ouch.

Measuring the quality, quantity, and efficiency of the value delivered can ultimately balance your business more effectively as you scale.

Here’s the summary before we dive into each:

1. Quality

Quality is like the protein shake of your business diet. It means you’re delivering a product that doesn’t just cross the finish line but gets results. Looking purely at a revenue-driven metric may help improve your bottom line but if done solely, will ultimately create detractors or worse, churned customers.

Evaluating the quality will ensure the product isn’t good enough, but great. Increasing engagement leads to satisfaction, which turn, creates happy customers. And happy customers not only come back but refer others.

2. Quantity

Then, there's quantity. If quality is your protein, quantity is your cardio – it's all about keeping the heart of your business pumping. Another way of looking at this metric is as your North Star. It’s the common driver to improve business and revenue.

But I strongly advise choosing a product metric rather than a revenue goal for this. Instead of looking to hit $100 million in revenues, aim to deliver a great experience that generates revenue. In other words, build a great product.

3. Efficiency

Last but certainly not least, we've got efficiency. This is the flexibility post-training to maintain a healthy rhythm. In business, it's about streamlining your processes, cutting out waste, and ensuring you're as lean or large as needed to grow efficiently.

Efficiency means doing more with less, whether its time, resources, or energy. It's about optimizing for product scale. Let’s say your support tickets per customer are now flashing red, it’s likely time to hire more customer support to deal with the influx of tickets or hunker down with engineering to solve the bugs or feature gaps that are coming up.

By focusing on Quality, Quantity, and Efficiency, you're not just hitting your targets; you're creating a focus that’s simple and scalable. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about making progress, finding focus, and keeping it real.

So, let’s say goodbye to the OKR and North Star diet. It’s time to try something that feels more like your favorite comfort food and less like a fad diet. QQE might just be the balanced meal your business has been craving.

And if you want to swap war stories or chat about your business journey, I’m all ears. Reach out, and let’s keep it real together.