The essential OKR reading list

If you’re new to OKR or want to deepen your knowledge of the management framework, books on the subject are a great instrument. In this list, you’ll find some recommended OKR books written by renowned authors and each with its unique strengths.

High Output Management by Andrew Grove

• The first book that introduced the concept of OKR
• Andrew Grove’s trendsetting management philosophy and techniques

High Output Management is a must-have on every executive's bookshelf and a historical piece. Written by Andrew Grove in 1983, it’s still highly relevant today. It’s the very first book that introduced the concept of OKR, and entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg used it as a source of inspiration for developing and executing forward-thinking management styles.

“An organizational Baedeker for managers at all levels... A highly credible handbook for organizing work and directing and developing employees.” —The New York Times

Andrew Grove entered history as the father of OKR and is a person every executive should be familiar with. Before he passed away in 2016, he was a noted technology leader, author, and scientist. Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware said about him: “Probably no one person has had a greater influence in shaping Intel, Silicon Valley, and all we think about today in the technology world than Andy Grove.”

Objectives and Key Results - Driving Focus, Alignment, and Engagement with OKRs by Paul Niven & Ben Lamorte

• First reference work on OKR
• Framework, best practices, and OKR case studies

This OKR book has the potential to become a standard reference for implementing the goal management framework. It covers everything from the history and definitions of OKR to starting and maintaining an OKR program to case studies from the real world.

“This book will help you to implement an agile and transparent system to align and focus your organization. It is easy to understand and the principles are relevant.” —Robert Gentz, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Zalando SE

For this book, two of the most-noted OKR experts teamed up. Paul Niven is a consultant who wrote several bestselling books on Balanced Scorecard before focusing on OKR. Ben Lamorte led OKR implementations for companies like eBay, Sears, Zalando, Dun & Bradstreet, and GoNoodle.

Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results by Christina Wodtke

• Narrative, inspirational style
• OKR basics embedded in a fictional story

Radical Focus combines actionable know-how and a fictional story in the best possible way. You’ll get plenty of takeaways for using OKR to inspire a team and achieve great results without any dry and lengthy descriptions. Radical Focus is rightly one of the most popular OKR books.

“This book is useful, actionable, and actually fun to read! If you want to get your team aligned around real, measurable goals, Radical Focus will teach you how to do it quickly and clearly.”—Laura Klein, Principal, Users Know

Besides being an entrepreneur and bestselling author, Christina Wodtke advises startups, lectures at Stanford University, and previously worked in leading positions at companies like LinkedIn and Zynga.

How to Write Great OKRs - Everything you need to know when setting Objectives & Key Results by Henrik-Jan van der Pol

• A condensed OKR guide, covering everything from the very basics to how to roll it out across an organization
• Hands-on criteria and checklists for setting great OKRs

This eBook is perfect for anyone who wants to dive into OKR without getting lost in technical theory. The book teaches how to set goals like Google, Intel, Twitter & Co and how to turn strategy into business results using OKR. The best practices in this book are based on more than 200 successful OKR implementations in companies across all regions, industries, and sizes.

The author of this eBook, Henrik-Jan van der Pol, is founder and CEO at Perdoo. Before founding the company, he led change and implementation projects as a freelance consultant for organizations like Heineken. He has overseen hundreds of OKR implementations and shared his learnings as a speaker at conferences like Dublin Tech Summit and NOAH and as a guest writer for Business Insider and CIO.com.

Click here to get a free copy of the eBook.