Dear Andy: Writing OKRs for a New Job  🔗 **Source:** [Dear Andy: Writing OKRs for a New Job](https://mailchi.mp/whatmatters.com/dearandy-august26?e=2bfae2a2b7) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [okrs, leadership, onboarding, team-planning, goal-setting] > author: Billy Casey > source: What Matters > reference: https://mailchi.mp/whatmatters.com/dearandy-august26?e=2bfae2a2b7 > date created: 2026-08-11 13:00 EDT > > > [!info] Generated analysis — not the author's words. Sections below are machine-written from the captured source. Only text inside `> [!quote]` blocks is verbatim from the author. Do not quote or attribute any other line to the named author. > > # 🏷️ Title: Dear Andy: Writing OKRs for a New Job > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 🧭 Table of Contents Summary · Main Content · References · Paraphrase · Newsletter · Action Items · Hypotheses · Methodology · Questions · Future Research · Implications · Learning Styles · Accessibility · DEIB · Logical Validity · DARVO · Conclusion · Refactor Appendix · Template Library ## 🔗 References - [Original source](https://mailchi.mp/whatmatters.com/dearandy-august26?e=2bfae2a2b7) - [Typical OKR cycle](https://www.whatmatters.com/resources/a-typical-okr-cycle) - [Writing OKRs](https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/okr-examples-and-how-to-write-them) ## 📝 Summary The advice column responds to a new employee asked to draft department-wide OKRs despite limited organizational context. It says OKRs are team-owned, usually connected to higher-level priorities, and should reflect knowledge of the team’s history and current work. A newcomer can contribute a useful first draft, but should seek guidance, interview the team, review prior OKRs, and treat the draft as iterative rather than authoritative. ## 📖 Main Content The source balances two truths: organizational context matters, and fresh perspective can expose assumptions. It recommends using previous OKRs, hiring promises, customer problems, and team priorities as raw material. The main risk is converting a collaborative strategy exercise into an onboarding test for one new employee. A first draft can accelerate discussion if leaders supply direction and the department owns revision. ### 🗒️ Notes - Department OKRs require context a new hire cannot yet possess alone. - A fresh perspective is useful input, not a substitute for team ownership. - Prior OKRs reveal both stated priorities and historical learning. - The advice is also marketing for What Matters training, which should be separated from the core guidance. ## 📚 References - [Typical OKR cycle](https://www.whatmatters.com/resources/a-typical-okr-cycle) - [Writing OKRs](https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/okr-examples-and-how-to-write-them) ## 🗣️ Paraphrase Do not refuse the assignment or pretend to have context you lack. Ask leaders for the strategy above your department, interview teammates, review earlier goals, and write a provisional draft that makes assumptions visible. The team, not the newcomer, should own the final OKRs. ## 📰 Newsletter A new hire can draft department OKRs, but shouldn’t be asked to manufacture strategy alone. Start with the priorities above the team, past OKRs, customer problems, and the commitments made during hiring. Then treat the draft as a conversation artifact—not a performance test or a finished mandate. ## ✅ Action Items - **DevRel:** Use the same collaborative drafting pattern for program objectives and community outcomes. - **OSPO:** Tie contribution goals to organizational strategy and contributor capacity. - **Community:** Invite the people doing the work to shape objectives and measures. - **WordPress teams:** Core — Define the strategic outcome before assigning team measures; Core Performance — assess performance effects where relevant; Core AI — Use AI to surface assumptions, not invent organizational consent; Core Program Team — track ownership and milestones; Mobile — not directly implicated; Playground — Not applicable beyond prototyping reporting dashboards; Community — share safe participation guidance; Training — teach the limits and safe workflow; Marketing — avoid claims beyond the evidence; Support — document common failure modes; Design — preserve accessible interaction patterns; Documentation — publish prerequisites and boundaries; Photos — not applicable; TV — archive demonstrations with captions; Polyglots — localize safety guidance; Accessibility — test with disabled users and WCAG 2.2 AA; Meta — support trustworthy directory and identity signals; CLI — document automation safeguards; Hosting — Not directly implicated; Tide — automate relevant quality checks; Openverse — not directly implicated; Themes — validate theme-specific effects; Plugins — apply secure review and rollback. - **The WP Open Community Collective:** Keep shared goals accountable to member communities - **FAIR:** Use transparent, participatory goal setting. ## 🧪 Hypotheses 1. Team-reviewed OKRs written by newcomers are stronger than solo drafts. 2. Reviewing failed prior OKRs improves metric quality. 3. Explicitly labeling a first draft lowers defensiveness and increases useful revision. ## 📊 Methodology Compare OKR cycles across teams using solo newcomer drafts, manager-written drafts, and facilitated team drafts. Score strategic alignment, employee understanding, metric validity, revision volume, and quarter-end usefulness. ## ❓ Questions - What strategy did leadership provide before assigning the task? - Who has authority to approve the department’s OKRs? - Which prior goals failed, and why? - Are key results measuring outcomes or activity? ## 🔮 Future Research Study onboarding timing, psychological safety in goal setting, and the effect of collaborative drafting on commitment and metric gaming. ## 💡 Implications Fresh eyes can improve planning only when paired with institutional memory and shared ownership. Leaders should not outsource ambiguity downward and then judge the newcomer for failing to infer unstated strategy. ## 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - **Visual:** A strategy-to-team-objective map would clarify cascading relationships. - **Aural:** An audio summary would improve access; none is required to understand the captured article. - **Verbal:** Direct quotations and explicit claims support verbal learners. - **Kinesthetic:** Run a facilitated workshop that turns interviews and prior goals into a draft. - **Logical:** Compare claims, mechanisms, controls, and outcomes in a decision table. - **Social:** Discuss the tradeoffs with the affected team rather than treating the article as a final verdict. - **Solitary:** Use the questions and hypotheses as a private review checklist. - **Naturalistic:** Not applicable to this source; the subject is organizational and technical. - **Reading level:** Approximately grade 10–12 because of technical and organizational terminology. ## 📊 Accessibility Assessment - **Screen-reader semantics:** The captured source uses headings and paragraphs, but image alternative text and heading order should be checked on the rendered page. - **Keyboard navigation:** Not verifiable from captured article HTML alone. - **Contrast and readability:** Not verifiable from captured article HTML alone. - **Text resizing and reflow:** Not verifiable from captured article HTML alone. - **Media and captions:** Static images require meaningful alt text; embedded video requires captions and a transcript. - **Forms and interactions:** Not applicable unless newsletter or site controls are included. - **WCAG 2.2 AA:** Treat the captured text as evidence only; run rendered-page testing before claiming conformance. ## 🌍 DEIB Assessment - **Cultural breadth:** The advice assumes a relatively participatory workplace and may not transfer to rigid hierarchies. - **Inclusive language:** The tone normalizes uncertainty and asking for help. - **Neurodiversity support:** Clear summaries and explicit boundaries reduce cognitive load. - **Representation:** Only the advice-giver and fictionalized letter writer are represented. - **Psychological safety:** Calling the draft provisional can reduce fear for a new employee. ## ✅ Logical Validity ### Strong reasoning The advice correctly connects goal quality to context, history, and team ownership. ### Fallacies The suggestion that OKRs are generally cascaded can become appeal to convention if treated as the only valid model. Fix by distinguishing aligned, bidirectional planning from rigid top-down cascading. ### Tone of voice Reassuring, practical, and promotional. ## 🛡️ DARVO Analysis Not applicable. No denial, attack, or victim-offender reversal appears. ## 🎯 Conclusion A new employee can convene and draft department OKRs, but leadership must provide strategic direction and the team must own the result. The useful deliverable is a transparent first draft with explicit assumptions. ## 🧱 Refactor Appendix ### 📚 Literature Split Pad > [!quote] > “OKRs are owned by teams, so it’s only right the entire department has a say in them, too!” **Use:** States the core ownership principle. #### 🔖 Atomic Split Pad - Fresh perspective contributes to strategy but cannot replace missing organizational context. - A first draft is valuable when it exposes assumptions for team revision. ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue - Verify the strongest claim against a second source or a controlled test. - Revisit the outcome after the relevant implementation or decision changes. <!-- deep-read:sections end --> 📄 **Full text:** [[Full Document Contents/Articles/Dear Andy Writing OKRs for a New Job.md|Dear Andy: Writing OKRs for a New Job by mailchi.mp]] ## Highlights - My, that does seem like a big task for someone who’s just joined the company. OKRs are generally first [cascaded down](https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/cascading-top-down-okr-examples?utm_source=DearAndy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Aug26) from the higher-ups, so your trepidation about writing them this early into your tenure is definitely understandable. [OKRs are used to pin-point a team’s top priorities for the next 90 days](https://www.whatmatters.com/resources/a-typical-okr-cycle?utm_source=DearAndy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Aug26), so a strong familiarity with the team’s practices and history is crucial. Whether you’re a company veteran or a veritable newbie, don’t be afraid to ask for help and guidance. Afterall, OKRs are owned by teams, so it’s only right the entire department has a say in them, too! ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kzsk0kbvbcqgvvzeznexk4az)) - Note: The central principle: department OKRs need context and team ownership. - Tags: atom/literature/h1, okrs - That being said, let’s say you’re up for the challenge of [creating that ever-elusive “first draft”](https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/okr-examples-and-how-to-write-them?utm_source=DearAndy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Aug26) of your team’s OKRs. Is it possible because you are new you have valuable perspective to add? OKRs are all about enacting significant and pressing change — a fresh set of eyes to determine where to go next could be a real gift! From your professional perspective, are there any changes or advancements you think your new department needs to make? When you were hired, did you, perhaps, promise to save the department X amount of money or sign X amount of new clients? What would accomplishing that set your team up to do? Solve a customer problem? Expand into a new market? These could all work as the basis for OKRs. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kzsk0j34teyfw3edwnrmry82)) - Note: Fresh perspective is useful input when framed as a provisional draft. - Tags: atom/literature/h2, onboarding - I’d also recommend asking your team about their previous OKRs. What have they been striving towards? Where are they directing their best energy and attention? Is that still the most important thing? What has and hasn’t worked for them in the past? See if you can summarize each of the most important priorities in one short sentence. Voila! You have a stub of an OKR. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kzsk0h9r7sty8wtwc9pr23wf)) - Note: Prior goals provide institutional memory and reveal what the team has learned. - Tags: team-planning, atom/zettel/z1 - My final recommendation? Relax, take a deep breath, and remember you don’t need to get this 100% right the first time. Writing great OKRs takes practice and patience — you can do this! ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kzsk0fwexbp5ndzk8m25g8jq)) - Note: Treat the first draft as iterative rather than authoritative. - Tags: atom/fleeting/f1, goal-setting