Measure What Matters: Aligning Execution with Strategy in Game and Software Teams

There’s a quiet dysfunction that runs through most dev organizations: too many priorities, too little follow-through, and no clear way to tell if the team is actually making progress on what matters.

People are busy. Meetings are full. Work gets done. But when you zoom out and ask, “Did we move the needle this quarter?”—you get silence or a shrug.

John Doerr’s Measure What Matters gives us a fix.

It’s not magic. It’s a system. A tool. A discipline.

It’s called OKRs—Objectives and Key Results.

If you’re leading a game or software team, OKRs can be the difference between spinning your wheels and scaling your wins. This isn’t about more measurement. It’s about better focus—and aligning execution with strategy so you stop guessing and start delivering.

Let’s break it down.

What Are OKRs?

At their core, OKRs are simple:

• Objectives are what you want to achieve.
• Key Results are how you’ll measure success.

Objectives should be bold, qualitative, and inspiring. Key Results should be specific, measurable, and time-bound.

Dev Application:

Objective: Improve player engagement post-launch.
Key Results:

1. Increase D30 retention from 22% to 30%.
2. Raise session length by 10%.
3. Launch 2 new content drops within 60 days.

If your Objective is the destination, your Key Results are the mile markers.

Why OKRs Work in Development Environments

Software and game dev are full of uncertainty. Goals shift. Resources move. Priorities pile up. OKRs bring structure to the chaos without killing agility.

They do three things really well:

1. Force clarity – You can't hide behind vague aspirations.
2. Drive focus – You get 3–5 Objectives, not 30.
3. Create alignment – Everyone can see how their work ladders up.

And when done right, they create a culture of transparency, autonomy, and results.

Good OKRs vs. Bad OKRs

Not all OKRs are created equal. Doerr lays out clear criteria—and as a leader, you need to coach your team here.

Bad OKR Example (Too Vague):
Objective: Improve performance.
Key Results: Fix bugs. Optimize backend. Improve team output.

That’s a to-do list. Not a result.

Good OKR Example (Outcome-Driven):
Objective: Improve game performance stability.
Key Results:

• Reduce average load time from 3.2s to under 2.0s.
• Eliminate 90% of P1 crashes across platforms.
• Raise player stability rating from 4.1 to 4.6.

The difference? You can measure it. You can celebrate it. Or you can miss it—and learn.

The Power of Transparency

In Doerr’s system, OKRs are public. Company-wide. Team-wide. Individual. Everyone can see what everyone else is trying to do.

This breaks down silos, creates accountability, and helps you catch misalignment early.

Dev Application:
You’re leading the monetization team. The live ops team is running events. If your OKR is “Raise first-time payer conversion to 15%,” and their OKR is “Boost engagement in cosmetic events,” you can align faster. Maybe you combine efforts: launch themed starter packs tied to events.

No more surprises. No more turf wars. Just visibility and coordination.

Stretch Goals Drive Breakthroughs

Doerr encourages ambitious goals—the kind you may not hit fully. Why? Because they stretch thinking, trigger creativity, and get teams out of the incremental trap.

But here’s the trick: hitting 70% of a stretch OKR is success.

Dev Application:
Want to improve your new user tutorial? Don’t just aim to raise completion by 2%. Set a bold OKR:

• Objective: Transform onboarding into a retention driver.
• Key Results:
• Raise tutorial completion from 68% to 90%.
• Increase D1 retention for new users by 10%.
• Cut tutorial exit complaints by 80%.

You might not hit all of it—but you’ll push beyond what’s comfortable.

OKRs Aren’t Performance Reviews

This is critical.

OKRs are about learning and alignment—not grading people.

If you start tying OKRs to bonuses or performance ratings, people will sandbag. They’ll aim low. They’ll protect their score instead of pushing the business.

Instead, use OKRs to drive the conversation:

• What worked?
• What didn’t?
• What should we change next quarter?

That’s where growth happens.

CFRs: The Secret to Making OKRs Work

Doerr doesn’t stop at OKRs. He introduces CFRs—Conversations, Feedback, and Recognition.

This is the human layer that makes the system stick:

• Conversations: Regular check-ins on progress and blockers.
• Feedback: Real-time coaching to stay on track.
• Recognition: Public praise for meaningful contributions.

Dev Application:
Your team crushed a release cycle. Celebrate the result, but tie it to the OKR: “We said we’d hit 25% D7 retention, and we landed at 27.3%. That’s huge—and it came from the reworked onboarding flow.”

This builds morale—and reinforces strategic thinking.

OKRs in Practice: A Few Dev Use Cases

Across the book, Doerr shares case studies from Google, YouTube, and others. Let’s translate a few examples directly to your world:

Launch Readiness

Objective: Deliver a bug-stable, review-ready game build.
Key Results:

• Close all P1 and P2 issues by July 15.
• Achieve a build stability rating of 95% or higher.
• Secure four press-ready demos approved by marketing.

Live Ops Health

Objective: Improve event engagement in Q3.
Key Results:

• Increase average sessions per player during events by 15%.
• Raise event participation rate to 65%.
• Collect and analyze feedback from 500+ participants.

Cross-Functional Teaming

Objective: Improve alignment between design and engineering.
Key Results:

• Run weekly alignment check-ins across both teams.
• Resolve 90% of backlog discrepancies before sprint planning.
• Reduce feature delivery rework by 50%.

Making OKRs Stick in Your Culture

A few tips Doerr (and experience) make clear:

• Start small. Pilot OKRs with one team before scaling org-wide.
• Make it visible. Post OKRs in Confluence or Notion. Use shared docs or dashboards.
• Review often. Weekly check-ins or bi-weekly syncs to stay aligned.
• Celebrate progress. Highlight progress in team meetings, not just at the quarter’s end.
• Don’t give up. It’ll feel awkward at first. Push through. Clarity compounds.

Final Word: From Work to Impact

OKRs are not about adding another layer of process. They’re about making the work count.

In game and software development—where things move fast, feedback loops are short, and clarity is rare—OKRs help you zoom out, focus in, and align across.

So stop measuring effort. Start measuring what matters.

And build a team that knows exactly what winning looks like—and how to get there.