Experiences as an OKR Champ at wemakeit.com
The experiences of Sunita Maldonado, Digital Product Designer at wemakeit.com as an OKR Champ: Opportunities and limitations of OKRs.
How does wemakeit.com work and how do they operate? wemakeit.com is a crowdfunding platform founded in 2012. Crowdfunding is a form of financing and a trend that the booming creative economy and the technological innovation scene can leverage. Numerous project initiators can benefit from this form of financing, as crowdfunding not only ensures full or partial financing but also serves as a market test. Crowdfunding thus reduces the risk for creatives of investing time, energy, and money into a project that might not succeed in the market.
The core team, with flat hierarchies, consists of 6-7 supporting individuals and various freelancers who work very agilely (no silos) and primarily digitally. The team members are distributed across Switzerland, Germany, and Austria and can collaborate remotely very effectively due to their digital mindset and tools (online platform, fully online product).
Since its founding, wemakeit.com has built an impressive community that continuously supports its projects. To make all this possible, wemakeit.com provides the necessary infrastructure for successful implementation.
Why did wemakeit.com choose the OKR methodology? What was the reason? Sunita and her team were frustrated because the annual planning at wemakeit.com did not work as they had envisioned and expected. The team realized that the goals they had set were too ambitious given the resources available to them. They had taken on too much and were consequently dissatisfied. Due to the lack of focus within the team, they decided in April to start working with OKRs for the first time.
How did the first OKR cycle go, and what challenges did the team face? The initial work with OKRs after completing training was very positive. Everyone on the team was highly motivated during the first phase. For the wemakeit.com team, it was extremely important to have an external person with solid OKR knowledge accompany the OKR Planning Day and provide guidance. In May, the team started their first 3-month OKR cycle and used Excel to track all defined OKRs. Over time, the team realized that they had added additional goals beyond those defined on Planning Day, taking on too much again. As a result, motivation declined. Consequently, the goals were not achieved by the end of the OKR cycle. Additionally, they found that OKRs do not work well for routine areas with recurring tasks.
What insights did Sunita/wemakeit.com gain from working with OKRs after two cycles? Despite the sobering results of the first OKR cycle, Sunita and her team learned that they could proceed more slowly and deliberately with the OKR method than usual. They stopped taking immediate actions and setting new goals. More importantly, the team at wemakeit.com adapted and customized the OKR method to their needs. They iterated on existing knowledge and tailored it to their company. The team now only applies the OKR method to their large-scale projects. Additionally, they extended the OKR cycle by a buffer month because a 3-month cycle was too short. The second OKR cycle was approached differently based on newly gained insights.
In conclusion, the OKR method is an ongoing process and is by no means complete for the wemakeit.com team. They will continue to work with the method and iterate based on it.