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OKRs vs.
NCTs
Effective goal-setting beyond
by-the-book approaches

Tim Herbig herbig.co

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NCTs have been coined and popularized

by Ravi Mehta as a complementary and,
potentially, alternative approach to
setting goals as a product team. Ravi’s
concept points out valid flaws in how
most teams use OKRs. But these flaws
are only true for a rigid and by-the-book-
driven idea of using OKRs. So, let me try
to paint a picture of how you can
introduce simple but better practices for
using OKRs by referencing the structure
of NCTs as a lens.

Tim Herbig herbig.co

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Tim Herbig herbig.co Via reforge.com/blog/set-better-goals-with-ncts-not-okrs

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Framing OKR
Definition through
a Narrative
I wholeheartedly agree with the fact that a lack of
narrative around strategic intent kills team-level
goal-setting. That’s why the quality of your OKR
definition inputs directly correlates with the
usefulness of your OKR Sets. Whether you focus on
the Product Strategy pattern of the strategic
narrative or other artifacts to provide contexts, a
clear understanding of the WHY must be the goal
before defining OKRs.

Tim Herbig herbig.co

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Tim Herbig herbig.co

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Avoid Getting lost

in Outcomes, And
value Progress
That's the trap of focusing on pretty but useless
Lagging Outcomes. OKRs have to be useful for
everyday work, which is why the act of identifying
measurable leading indicators should be part of
thoughtful OKR usage. For example, KRs that help
teams pre-launch or at the early stages of
Discovery can be more Output-ish. An overly
dogmatic focus on Outcomes can be just as
harmful to a team's OKRs as replicating task lists.

Tim Herbig herbig.co

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Harvesting OKR
Success only begins
after defining them
I still see teams being lost after defining (especially
genuine Outcome) OKRs. The transition from
finishing your OKRs to adding the first
corresponding user story to your Sprint Backlog or
scheduling a series of user interviews can feel like a
void. To overcome it, Product Teams need to
prioritize tactics through a structured discussion
about what to build and what to discover in order to
drive the results you set out to achieve.

Tim Herbig herbig.co

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Tim Herbig herbig.co

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Avoiding Set-and-
Forget Goals

In his NCTs concept, Ravi Mehta rightfully points to

"one or two check-ins per quarter leaves far too
much latency between the time the goal is set and
when an adjustment to the plan may be necessary."
In my experience, this antipattern results from two
issues: One, an overly reliance on lagging indicators
to set team-level OKRs and two, A disconnect
between the OKR practice and the other work of
teams. Because if you don't check in on them to
adjust your actions, what's the point of using OKRs?
Tim Herbig herbig.co
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Effective goal-setting is not

about the name of the
framework but the level of
standards you hold the
selection and execution of your
practices accountable for.

Tim Herbig herbig.co

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It's your responsibility to make sure

you're defining goals that are the most
effective enablers for Outcome-
oriented practices in your company–
Independent of what they are called.
Use NCTs (or any other goal framework)
instead of OKRs for your if you can see
the clear benefit for your work. But don't
do it without revisiting all the enabling
and adjacent processes that would
render any goal-setting process
independent of its name useless.
Because often, the things that make a
framework ineffective are not part of
the framework, but your general
practices.

Tim Herbig herbig.co

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What practices help

you set better goals?
Share your experience in the
comments!

Tim Herbig herbig.co