Scientific Definition
When OKRs are tied to comp, ambition disappears.
Plain-English Definition
When OKRs are tied to comp, ambition disappears.
Feynman Explanation
Stretch goals stop being stretchy when bonuses depend on them.
Core Principle
When OKRs are tied to comp, ambition disappears.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
When OKRs are tied to comp, ambition disappears.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Performance management cycle drift.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Stretch goals stop being stretchy when bonuses depend on them.
Examples
- Teams sandbagging objectives to ensure attainment.
- Performance management cycle drift.
Pending editorial review.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Decouple OKRs from comp. Use them for direction, not for payout.
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Decouple OKRs from comp. Use them for direction, not for payout.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
'Equal value' exchanges incentivize subjective appraisal gaming to trade low-utility land for high-value public assets.
Once-a-year feedback rewards once-a-year behavior.
The more a quantitative indicator drives decisions, the more it distorts the process it measures.
Donors penalize 'overhead'; charities under-invest in capacity.
Donors penalize 'overhead' and starve capacity that produces outcomes.
A reward designed to reduce X produces more X.
Squeezing all slack from a system optimizes throughput but eliminates resilience.
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
Deep specialization improves local output but breaks cross-domain understanding.
Greedy improvement loops climb hills that aren't the highest hill.
When rewards don't match stated values, culture quietly decays toward what is rewarded.
Insulation from risk changes the risks people take.