Many tech companies already rely on Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), as they are versatile and can enrich the strategic management framework of an organisation. In a conversation with scaleon Founding Partner Stefan Benndorf, Mooncamp Co-Founder Daniel Breucker shares what matters when using OKRs and how important a good OKR tool is.
Stefan: I'm very pleased to be able to speak with you today, Daniel. At scaleon, OKRs as a strategic management framework are one of our focus topics. In the past, we have always enjoyed working closely with you and your team in this context.
Daniel, you are one of the founders of Mooncamp. Please give us a brief introduction: who are you, how did you come to Mooncamp, and what is the story behind it?
Daniel: Stefan, I'm also glad to be speaking with you today. I am one of the four founders of Mooncamp. We founded the company two and a half years ago with the ambition of building the best OKR tool and in doing so making the world of work a little better.
Some background on Mooncamp: everyone on the team had already worked at various companies with a software background, and in all of these contexts we kept coming into contact with OKRs. Five years ago, OKRs were still a fairly new topic, but from the very beginning I thought that OKRs were an interesting framework. It leads to every member of the team thinking about their own goals and creating a clear focus. On top of that, it is also a great communication tool.
„(...) from the very beginning I thought that OKRs were an interesting framework. It leads to every member of the team thinking about their own goals and creating a clear focus. On top of that, it is also a great communication tool.“
– Daniel, Mooncamp
What we had observed in our previous jobs was that corresponding software was already being used there. Particularly in the development phase, there are many advantages to this. But the entire tech stack with the OKR framework behind it was kept very simple — through Excel sheets, for example.
We quickly realised that this needed to be optimised. And precisely because we found OKRs exciting and had the skills as software developers to build a tool, we took the plunge. Now, two and a half years later, that idea has turned into quite a success story.
Stefan: Who are your typical customers? Do you work with tech companies or primarily with corporates? Is there a specific focus?
Daniel: I wouldn't say there is a specific focus. That said, many of our customers come from digital industries. Everything from internet companies to small and large start-ups, software firms, and software consultancies. Probably because this industry simply works a lot with OKRs and is generally tech-savvy.
Fundamentally, however, I would still say that OKRs are a topic that cuts across all industries. Among our customers you also find the energy sector, insurance companies, the classic Mittelstand, and mechanical engineering. Typical customers of ours employ between 100 and 500 employees — but small start-ups and small businesses, as well as the really large DAX corporations, are also among our customers.
Stefan: What does it look like in practice when an OKR system is introduced: is Mooncamp involved from the very beginning, or is your tool selected and implemented later in the process?
Daniel: We encounter both versions in practice. It is often the case that companies that are at a very early stage of their organisation want to do things right from the start. They rely on software from the beginning and roll it out step by step as the process unfolds.
At the same time, we work with companies that are already a little further along in their organisation — on average two to three cycles further. These companies have developed the system themselves or with the support of consultancies such as scaleon. Most of these organisations have then reached a point where they decide to take the organisation to the next level and introduce a software tool to do so.
But let me pass the ball back to you, Stefan. How do you see the use of OKR tools in day-to-day company life? How important do you think it is to use a tool?
Stefan: At every larger company we support, a tool for managing OKRs is introduced and used sooner or later. We see clear advantages in implementing the tools: the process becomes transparent and you can manage different cycles. Especially when you have many so-called OKR owners — colleagues who work with OKRs — it simply is no longer practicable to manage these with Google Sheets, Excel, or other tools that are not specifically optimised for this purpose.
What we observe is that OKRs are sometimes introduced when the team is still small at the beginning. There may then be a pilot programme and, for simplicity, Excel sheets are used. That is perfectly fine, because in this phase the focus is very much on the management philosophy — the way in which objectives and key results are set, how goals are made transparent, and the fact that the organisation first learns to introduce a new kind of goal-setting philosophy. In practice, however, this often runs up against its limits when the Excel template has to be filled in, it becomes fragmented, and data quality starts to diverge.
As a rule, almost all of our customers introduce an OKR tool sooner or later. We also sometimes support the tool selection process. Personally, I find it hard to imagine using an OKR system without a dedicated tool.
"Personally, I find it hard to imagine using an OKR system without a dedicated tool.“
– Stefan, scaleon
Daniel: What is your general understanding of OKRs? How do you see OKRs in a company context?
Stefan: According to our philosophy, OKRs are a powerful strategic management framework. Strategic goals or strategies more broadly are developed by organisations. These strategies define the frame of reference, and individual teams and employees then develop OKRs with a very strong bottom-up component - OKRs that serve to advance these strategic goals.
We see OKRs as a management instrument with the added value of creating transparency, alignment, and focus. Introduced correctly, they serve as value drivers to achieve speed in strategy execution.
"We see OKRs as a management instrument with the added value of creating transparency, alignment, and focus. Introduced correctly, they serve as value drivers to achieve speed in strategy execution.“
– Stefan, scaleon
Mooncamp is a pure OKR tool. What are the key features of Mooncamp? What sets you apart from other tools? Where are you particularly strong?
Daniel: At least for now, we are a pure OKR tool. We always say that we are the most flexible tool that can best adapt to any situation. One should always keep in mind that all companies have their own processes and follow them. We say: the tool should adapt to the company and its conditions - not the other way around.
"We say: the tool should adapt to the company and its conditions — not the other way around.“
– Daniel, Mooncamp
This adaptability can be observed in many places with us. We have, for example, a customer who prefers to call objectives and key results "Schlüsselresultate." Adapting these things to their preferences is something that should be accepted and implemented.
Beyond that, we pay close attention to a good and user-friendly user experience. In designing the tool, we try to achieve exactly the level of user experience that most people are familiar with from consumer apps. This in turn has the effect that the tool only needs to be introduced once in a half-hour session, after which users find their way around the software simply and intuitively.
As a final point, we offer a range of integrations. Particularly popular is our Microsoft Teams integration. Nobody wants yet another tool, but Microsoft Teams is generally open anyway — and that is precisely where the Mooncamp integration comes in. This is very well received by our customers.
Stefan: What does the Mooncamp roadmap look like for the coming months? Are there further developments planned?
Daniel: We have quite a lot planned. Among other things, we want to move more strongly into process management. At the moment, the tool does a good job of mapping the OKR set and its development. But we want to get to the point where the tool also shows which teams within the organisation have already actively adopted the process and where there may still be a need for action.
The next project we call Planning Sessions. We want to create a space where a few users can work together with limited visibility - simply sketching things out, formulating goals, and giving each other feedback. These OKR sets can then be transferred very easily into the main system so that they are visible to everyone.
In addition, we are continuously working on further integrations. A Salesforce integration, for example, is planned next.
Stefan: That sounds interesting.
Daniel: How do you as consultants typically use OKR tools?
Stefan: We often define the OKR concept together with the customer. Together with management, we then think about what the right frame of reference is, whether there is already a formulated set of strategic goals that we can draw on, or whether we perhaps still need to sharpen things up together at that point.
In the next step, we train the team in OKRs and support the formulation of the first OKRs in terms of content. In this context, the question of which tool can be used often comes up. We then advise on what tools are available and what to look for when making a selection. But the actual tool selection is always made by the company itself.
Once the tool has been introduced, we work directly on the system. When we run an OKR workshop with customers, for example, we do that directly in Mooncamp.
We also use the tool for evaluations. Ultimately, it provides a good data foundation when it comes to the use of the tool and the implementation and execution of OKRs. That is very helpful for getting a clearer picture of how teams are working with it.
Many thanks for the conversation and today's exchange, Daniel. I look forward to further topics and joint projects.
Daniel: I also thank you for the conversation and likewise look forward to future joint OKR projects.
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