Are KPIs Sabotaging Your OKRs? This Episode Will Change How You Measure Success

Gino Marckx and Wayne Hetherington tackle the most common question from their OKR courses: "What's the difference between OKRs and KPIs?" The answer reveals why mixing them up is deflating your goals and confusing your teams.

The Problem: Teams with good intentions want to measure progress, so they put KPIs into their OKRs. Everything's on one dashboard—efficient, right? Wrong.

The Unintended Consequence: Using maintenance metrics (KPIs) to track transformational goals (OKRs) turns ambitious objectives into ordinary tasks. Your GPS becomes a dashboard, and your team loses sight of where they're going.

Key Insights:

• OKRs are temporary and directional—they end when you reach your goal
• KPIs are permanent system health monitors—they never stop
• The same number can mean different things depending on why you're measuring it
• KPIs don't enable autonomous decision-making toward future goals
• Exception: Transform an unhealthy KPI into a temporary OKR when you need to fix it

Wayne's car metaphor makes it click: Your GPS tells you where to turn (OKRs), your dashboard tells you to change the oil (KPIs). Both essential, completely different purposes.

Perfect for leaders struggling with goal-setting, team alignment, and making measurements that actually matter.

Got a workplace challenge where good intentions led to bad outcomes? Share it for a future episode!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

What happens when your deployment pipeline consistently shows failing tests, but your team needs to keep shipping? In this episode, Gino and Wayne share a real-world example of how one organization created an "amber state" - where code compiles but tests fail, and treated it as "good enough" for deployment.

Wayne and Gino explore the dangerous psychology behind this common workplace pattern: when feedback becomes untrustworthy, teams stop listening to it entirely. The result? Quality silently erodes while everyone pretends the system is working.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How the amber light anti-pattern destroys test discipline
• Why "defects vs bugs" classifications create similar problems
• The connection between failing CI/CD and "almost done" Kanban columns
• When radical solutions (like deleting your entire test suite) make sense
• How good intentions around "unblocking" teams lead to quality debt

Timestamps:
0:00 - The Amber Light Anti-Pattern Exposed 

1:45 - Why 90% Failed Tests Became "Good Enough" 

4:00 - The Hidden Psychology of Ignoring Quality 

5:14 - Defects vs Bugs: Another Dangerous Distinction 

6:41 - "Almost Done" Columns: The Kanban Version 

8:21 - The Nuclear Option: Delete Your Tests

Key insight: If you don't trust your feedback system enough to act on it, remove it entirely rather than work around it.

This is a shorter episode focusing on one powerful anti-pattern that many development teams will recognize. Whether you're dealing with flaky tests, unreliable builds, or teams that have learned to ignore quality signals, this conversation offers both diagnosis and cure.

Got a workplace situation where good intentions led to bad outcomes? We'd love to hear about it for a future episode.

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

Think shielding your team from distractions helps them focus? You might be creating a bigger problem.

In this episode, Gino and Wayne tackle one of the most common workplace traps: the well-meaning manager who "protects" their team by cutting them off from external input. What starts as good intentions - giving teams space to focus - often ends with teams building the wrong thing entirely.

They share real examples of teams that became so isolated they lost context, missed critical dependencies, and delivered work that other teams couldn't actually use. The result? Longer delivery timelines and frustrated stakeholders - exactly what the protection was supposed to prevent.

The Real Problem:
When teams get isolated, they stop being part of the bigger picture. They lose the feedback loops that keep them aligned with what actually needs to be built.
What Works Instead:

Set up controlled feedback sessions instead of complete isolation
Use Scrum ceremonies strategically for stakeholder input
Create "office hours" for team availability
Implement communication boards for non-urgent questions
Remember that focus doesn't mean disconnection

Bottom Line: Teams need focus, not isolation. The goal is managing distractions, not eliminating all outside contact.

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:35 - The "Team Protection" Problem
1:17 - Why Managers Try to Shield Teams
2:13 - When Good Intentions Go Wrong
3:33 - Better Ways to Handle Distractions
5:00 - Using Scrum for Controlled Feedback
6:32 - Office Hours and Communication Systems
8:05 - Keeping Teams Connected to the Big Picture
10:18 - Avoiding the "Special Project" Mentality
11:05 - Managing Emergency Work Without Chaos

About Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes:
A podcast about workplace challenges where good intentions create unintended consequences. Hosted by Gino Marckx and Wayne Hetherington.

#TeamManagement #Agile #ScrumMaster #Leadership #ProjectManagement #WorkplaceCollaboration

Subscribe for more insights on avoiding common workplace traps.

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

Ever wondered why your team isn't hitting those carefully crafted OKRs? You might be making the same mistake most leaders make - turning a powerful alignment tool into a top-down directive.

In this episode of Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes, Gino and Wayne break down why handing pre-made objectives to teams backfires, even when your intentions are good. They compare it to giving someone else's estimate and expecting accountability - spoiler alert: it doesn't work.
What You'll Learn:

Why teams lose ownership when goals are handed to them
The difference between goal-setting and alignment tools
How to turn OKRs into powerful negotiations instead of mandates
Why the person setting the goal matters more than the goal itself

Key Takeaway: OKRs work best when teams help create them, not when they're told to follow them. It's the difference between "your goal" and "my goal that you need to hit."

Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
0:38 - The Problem: Handing Teams Pre-Made OKRs
2:00 - Why This Approach Fails
4:32 - How OKRs Should Actually Work
5:37 - OKRs as Alignment Tools, Not Just Goal Setting
7:16 - The Power of Negotiation in Goal Setting
8:28 - Ownership vs. Accountability
9:33 - Real-World Example: Sports Team Management
10:15 - Wrap-up

Got a workplace situation where good intentions led to bad outcomes? We'd love to hear about it for a future episode!

About Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes:
A podcast exploring workplace challenges where well-meaning practices create unintended consequences. Hosted by Gino Marckx and Wayne Hetherington.

#OKRs #Leadership #TeamManagement #GoalSetting #WorkplaceCulture #Management #BusinessStrategy

Like this content? Subscribe for more insights on turning good intentions into great outcomes.

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

HR departments everywhere are implementing performance targets with the best intentions: helping employees grow and driving company success. But what happens when these well-meaning metrics actually backfire?

In this episode, Gino and Wayne unpack a common workplace scenario where measuring "projects completed" leads to reduced collaboration, short-term thinking, and gaming the system. They explore the psychology behind Goodhart's Law ("when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure") and share real-world examples of metrics gone wrong.

You'll discover:

• Why traditional project completion metrics can harm team dynamics
• How performance targets psychologically change employee behavior
• Two striking examples of well-intentioned metrics creating perverse incentives
• Alternative approaches focusing on employee engagement and organizational alignment
• The role of OKRs in setting direction without micromanaging actions
• Why annual performance reviews might be counterproductive

Key Insights:

• The difference between measuring for information vs. measuring for targets
• How financial incentives tied to metrics amplify problematic behaviors
• Why HR should focus on creating healthy workplaces rather than counting projects
• The importance of aligning individual growth with organizational outcomes

Whether you're in HR, management, or simply interested in workplace dynamics, this episode offers practical wisdom for creating performance systems that actually work.

Have a workplace situation with unintended consequences? Share it with us and we might feature it in a future episode!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

In this episode, Gino and Wayne explore one of the most common traps in product development: the pursuit of perfection that actually prevents you from delivering great products.

We discuss why waiting for the "perfect" product can take 2-3 years and still fail in production, share a real case study of a project that took 2 years to build but needed 6 more months to actually work, and explore how different companies handle the perfection vs. speed dilemma.

Key topics include:

• The perfectionism trap and elongated delivery times
• Apple vs. startup approaches to product perfection
• Customer segmentation strategies for faster releases
• Feature toggles and controlled rollouts
• Why production validation trumps test environment success
• Multidimensional planning: dirt road vs. highway implementations
• A fascinating airport dropdown case study that reveals unexpected user behavior

The counterintuitive insight: If you want to make a perfect product, go to your client with an imperfect product first.

Ideal for product managers, developers, startup founders, and anyone involved in product development who wants to ship faster without sacrificing quality.

Have a workplace situation with unintended bad outcomes? Share it with us for a future episode!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

In this episode of Good Intentions and Bad Outcomes, Gino and Wayne explore how the well-meaning practice of daily stand-ups can become overwhelming when individuals are expected to attend multiple stand-ups across different teams.

TIMESTAMPS:
 0:00 Introduction
 0:33 Today's problem: attending too many daily stand-ups
 1:06 When expert contributors spread themselves too thin
 1:23 The good intentions behind wanting to stay involved
 2:15 Why too many meetings can drain productivity
 2:39 A different lens on a recurring issue
 2:58 Balancing collaboration with individual capacity
 3:28 Refocusing on the intention: communication
 4:14 Solution 1: Back-to-back scheduling to preserve deep work
 4:49 Solution 2: Supplier-team model for shared work
 5:31 Solution 3: Scrum of scrums or cross-team sync
 6:05 Solution 4: Joint planning and reviews for cross-team clarity
 6:44 Solution 5: Rotating representatives between teams
 7:10 Solution 6: Weekly cross-team progress alignments
 8:13 Making information sharing efficient and intentional
 8:52 Closing thoughts on time-conscious communication
 9:28 Don't follow the playbook—do what makes sense
 9:45 Wrap-up and invitation for listener stories

Gino and Wayne tackle a challenge common in many agile environments: when people contribute to multiple teams and end up drowning in stand-up meetings. What starts as a simple communication tool turns into a calendar nightmare where no time is left for actual work.

In this episode, they explore alternatives that preserve the value of daily coordination while respecting people’s time, such as:
Organizing back-to-back meetings to protect blocks of focus time
Shifting to a supplier relationship for shared work
Implementing scrum-of-scrums or other cross-team alignment practices
Holding joint sprint planning and reviews to reduce duplicate discussions
Rotating team representatives to maintain connection without overload
Setting up weekly cross-team check-ins to keep things aligned

If your calendar ever made you think "When am I supposed to actually do the work?" you’ll relate to this one.

Got your own workplace story where a good idea had unintended consequences? Drop us a line and it might be featured in a future episode!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

In this episode of Good Intentions and Bad Outcomes, hosts Gino and Wayne explore how retrospectives and other well-meaning workplace meetings can lose their effectiveness when teams fail to follow through on their commitments.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 – Introduction
0:41 – The recurring problem: repeated retrospective action items
1:17 – Why retrospectives should work
1:56 – The danger of unresolved improvements
2:11 – When meetings turn into time-wasters
2:48 – External feedback loops that go nowhere
3:26 – Gino’s first solution: Commit to just one action
4:38 – Wayne’s addition: Don’t bite off more than you can chew
5:47 – Define “done”: Set clear acceptance criteria
6:46 – Agreeing on outcomes before the meeting ends
7:13 – Example from product backlog planning with clients
8:14 – Stakeholder feedback without clear results
8:55 – How to make feedback loops visible
9:23 – Respecting participants’ time and contributions
10:02 – Similar breakdowns in stand-ups and planning meetings
10:49 – Summary: Clarity, accountability, and closing the loop
11:27 – Netflix quote: 2 essential questions to ask after every meeting
12:15 – Closing thoughts + invite for listener stories

Gino and Wayne dive into a common agile trap: teams holding retrospectives and other recurring meetings with good intentions, but making the same commitments week after week without real change. They discuss how this pattern can frustrate teams, disengage stakeholders, and eventually lead to cancelled meetings or worse: teams that stop believing in improvement.

Drawing from real-world examples, they offer practical strategies including:
Committing to just one improvement at a time
Breaking big problems into smaller, doable chunks
Defining “done” with clear acceptance criteria
Making progress visible to internal teams and external stakeholders
Asking two powerful questions after every meeting

If you’ve ever sat in a meeting thinking "Haven’t we talked about this before?" this episode is for you.

Got your own story of good intentions that led to bad outcomes? Share it in the comments or reach out to be featured in an upcoming episode!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

In this episode of Good Intentions and Bad Outcomes, hosts Gino and Wayne explore how weekly progress reports, while intended to create transparency and visibility, can sometimes become counterproductive time sinks that actually impede progress.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Introduction
0:37 - Gino introduces the topic of weekly progress reports
0:57 - The good intentions behind progress reports
1:41 - Wayne's winter frustrations (and progress report frustrations)
2:16 - The perceived benefits of progress reporting
3:05 - When progress reports go wrong: excessive time consumption
4:14 - Real-life example: Creating multiple reports for different managers
5:44 - The false sense of control from color-coded status reports
7:03 - The "illusion of control" problem
7:40 - When progress reports aren't even read by management
9:22 - Solution 1: Keep progress tracking but make it efficient
10:31 - Solution 2: Create meaningful feedback loops
11:14 - Solution 3: Set strict time limits for report creation
11:35 - Solution 4: Write the planned progress at the beginning of the week
12:14 - Solution 5: Use a publish-subscribe model for reporting
13:02 - Solution 6: Leverage existing tools like Jira for real-time visibility
14:17 - Focus on communicating what really matters
15:32 - Conclusion and invitation for listener stories

Gino and Wayne discuss how weekly progress reports, while intended to provide visibility into team progress and challenges, often become elaborate time-consuming processes that actually hinder productivity. They share real experiences of spending up to 50% of work time creating redundant reports for different managers, dealing with reports that aren't actually read, and seeing how color-coded status indicators can create a false sense of control.

The hosts offer practical alternatives including:

• Setting strict time limits on report creation (max 10 minutes)
• Creating the progress report structure at the beginning of the week
• Implementing a publish-subscribe model where teams publish once and managers subscribe
• Using existing tools like Jira to create real-time progress dashboards
• Focusing on communicating blockers and help needed, not just completed tasks
• Creating short, fast, easy, and actually useful reporting mechanisms
  
  

If you've experienced situations where well-intended workplace processes have backfired, share your story for a chance to be featured in an upcoming episode!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

In this episode of Good Intentions and Bad Outcomes, hosts Gino and Wayne explore how product demos and sprint reviews, while well-intentioned, can sometimes lead to counterproductive outcomes in agile teams.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Introduction
0:43 - Wayne introduces the topic of product demos and sprint reviews
1:32 - The good intentions behind product demos
2:16 - When demos become counterproductive
3:43 - Teams turning demos into elaborate productions
5:17 - The "no code check-ins before demo" problem
7:16 - The "fake demo" with screenshots instead of working software
9:21 - Solution 1: Clarify the true purpose of demos
11:03 - Solution 2: Show what you've done without extra preparation
11:44 - Solution 3: Drop PowerPoint and use your existing tools
13:00 - A success story: How a technical demo led to project simplification
15:01 - Solution 4: Don't wait for perfect software to demo
16:17 - Conclusion and invitation for listener stories

Wayne and Gino discuss how sprint reviews and product demos, while intended to showcase progress and gather feedback, can sometimes become elaborate productions that waste development time or turn into competitive performances between teams. They share real examples of teams spending days preparing for demos, creating presentation decks instead of showing actual software, and prohibiting code check-ins before demos to avoid potential issues.

The hosts offer practical alternatives including:
- Reminding everyone that demos are primarily for feedback, not performances
- Showing actual working software rather than presentations or screenshots
- Eliminating extra preparation by simply demonstrating what's been completed
- Building confidence to demo work-in-progress features for earlier feedback
- Using existing tools (Jira, wikis) instead of creating separate presentations

If you've experienced situations where well-intended workplace processes have backfired, share your story for a chance to be featured in an upcoming episode!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

In this episode of Good Intentions and Bad Outcomes, hosts Gino and Wayne explore how organizations' well-intentioned financial approval processes can lead to unexpected negative consequences.

Wayne shares a real-world example of a project where financial justification documents were created with manufactured numbers to satisfy process requirements rather than reflect reality. They discuss how this common practice can lead to poor resource allocation, wasted time creating meaningless documentation, and potentially harmful business decisions.

The hosts offer practical alternatives including:

• Implementing shorter funding cycles with regular benefit verification
• Expanding the definition of "value" beyond just monetary returns
• Using throughput accounting instead of traditional cost accounting
• Creating metrics that don't solely focus on headcount reduction

SUBSCRIBE for more episodes that reveal how good intentions can lead to unexpected outcomes in the workplace!

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In this episode of "Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes," Gino Marckx and Wayne Hetherington expose the hidden costs of constantly shifting priorities before completing work. Discover why this well-intentioned practice secretly destroys team productivity and morale, and learn practical strategies to break the cycle of never finishing work.

Learn why two-thirds of work often sits permanently "in progress," how constant switching creates codebase complexity, and the devastating impact on team motivation. Perfect for product managers, team leads, executives, and anyone struggling with the "shiny new feature" syndrome that prevents teams from delivering real value.

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Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

In this episode, Gino Marckx and Wayne Hetherington explore why organizing teams around technical components creates dependencies that slow down your entire organization.

Discover:

• Why component teams introduce crippling dependencies
• How "islands of knowledge" become serious bottlenecks
• The hidden costs of teams protecting "their territory"
• Practical steps to break down silos without reorganizing everything
• Why self-service platforms and cross-team collaboration work

Perfect for technical leaders, project managers, and architects struggling with cross-team dependencies!

#ComponentTeams #OrganizationalDesign #TeamStructure #ConwaysLaw

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

Is your organization spreading people too thin across multiple teams? In this revealing episode, Hino and Wayne expose how the well-intentioned practice of assigning people to multiple teams is DESTROYING productivity and team ownership! 😱

🔥 You'll discover:

• Why your team members are stuck in ENDLESS standups with nothing to report
• The shocking productivity loss from constant context switching between teams
• How assigning scarce resources across multiple teams actually REINFORCES knowledge silos
• The real reason your "resource optimization" is causing project delays
• Why team members assigned to multiple projects feel like "fifth wheels" instead of valued contributors

📱 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every week that reveal the workplace practices secretly sabotaging your success!

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🔍 Ever been measured on KPIs that made you game the system? In this eye-opening episode about performance measurement mistakes, Gino Marckx and Wayne Hetherington reveal how your well-intentioned metrics might be DESTROYING team accountability and causing serious productivity issues! 😱

🔥 You'll discover:
- Why tracking sprint velocity and story points might be HURTING your project
- The shocking ways teams manipulate agile metrics to look good
- How performance measurements designed for accountability actually DESTROY team ownership
- The ONE question to ask before implementing any KPI or measurement system
- Why managers are completely WASTING TIME with metrics that don't align with organizational goals

📱 SUBSCRIBE for new episodes every week that reveal the workplace practices secretly sabotaging your success!

Learn more about alternatives to velocity tracking and preventing metric manipulation on our website: https://xodiac.ca/

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

Welcome to the first episode of "Good Intentions and Bad Outcomes", featuring hosts Gino Marckx and Wayne Hetherington. In this first episode, dive into the nuanced world of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and explore how workplace challenges arise when good intentions don't always lead to the desired outcomes.

Join Gino and Wayne as they examine the common pitfalls of using performance targets as key results, a practice that can inadvertently pull teams away from their core objectives. This episode offers valuable insights into how setting performance targets might impact team motivation and why it often results in maintaining the status quo rather than fostering growth and innovation.

Key discussion points include:

• The foundational purpose of OKRs and their role in enhancing team motivation.
• Strategies to set effective stretch goals that push teams beyond mediocrity.
• Leadership approaches to cultivating a more autonomous and engaged team environment.
• Practical alternatives to traditional performance targets for improved alignment and success.

Be part of this insightful conversation and learn how to transform good intentions into impactful outcomes. We also encourage you to share your own workplace challenges or OKR experiences for discussion in future episodes.

Tune in and let's turn your good intentions into great achievements!

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org

Is there such a thing as too much planning? Listen to what John and Gino have to say about this.

Contact us at feedback@goodintentionsbadoutcomes.org