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Stop Chasing OKRs: Solve the Real Business Puzzle – YouTube
Stop Chasing OKRs: Solve the Real Business Puzzle
Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM
This episode challenges goal-driven thinking in an AI-enabled world through a conversation with Radhika Dutt. The discussion explores why OKRs and vanity metrics often fail, especially when AI accelerates optimisation without understanding. The core insight is a shift from goal setting to puzzle setting. By framing problems clearly, staying in the discomfort, and learning through small experiments, teams can build products that create long-term value. Practical examples show how this mindset helped recover stalled growth, improve trust, and reduce churn while keeping humans central to AI-driven decisions.
👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/799
🎙️ What you’ll learn
• Why AI makes weak metrics and OKRs more dangerous, not more effective
• How to shift from goal setting to puzzle setting in product and AI work
• A practical framework for defining problems before jumping to solutions
• How to measure learning and narrative, not just numbers
• How puzzle solving supports sustainable innovation and growth
• Stop Chasing OKRs: Solve the Real Business Puzzle
👉 Chapters
• 00:00 Why Goals Break in an AI‑Driven World
• 03:30 Product Thinking as a System, Not a Feature
• 06:45 The Innovation Trap Inside OKRs
• 08:11 When AI Supercharges the Wrong Metrics
• 13:46 From Goal Setting to Puzzle Setting
• 22:47 Puzzle Solving in Practice
• 28:09 The Illusion That OKRs Work
✅ Find Radhika Online:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radhika-dutt/
• Twitter: https://x.com/radhikadutt
• Medium: https://rdutt.medium.com/
• Personal blog or website: https://rdutt.com/
• Books: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Product-Thinking-Mindset-Innovating/dp/1523093315
🔴Highlights
• “We measured success by the logos of companies on our website.”
• “Are we all just doomed to learn from trial and error?”
• “Everything that we humans can do in terms of optimizing numbers, AI can do it even better.”
• “What is the puzzle is the question we should have been asking.”
• “The more intimacy was gamified, the more it created a toxic dating environment.”
• “You kind of need to stay with the discomfort.”
• “Don’t just spit out numbers at me.”
• “They hated magic and they did not trust technology.”
• “This approach was more like putting your ears on the tracks.”
• “It is the biggest illusion that OKRs work.”
🧰 Mentioned
• Radical Product Thinking
https://www.radicalproduct.com/
• OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
https://www.atlassian.com/agile/agile-at-scale/okr
• Puzzle setting and puzzle solving framework
https://www.radicalproduct.com/toolkit/
• Design thinking
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking
• Toyota 5 Whys
https://www.learnleansigma.com/guides/5-whys/
✅Keywords
artificial intelligence, ai innovation, okrs, product thinking, puzzle setting, metrics, innovation culture, design thinking, product strategy, ai metrics, business transformation, experimentation
Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption
✅ Let’s Connect:
Collaborate with me here – https://cloverbase.com
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/nz365guy
Website: http://www.nz365guy.com/subscribe
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy
X – https://twitter.com/nz365guy
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nz365guy
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nz365guy
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.nz/nz365guy
I’m Mark Smith – nz365guy – Helping people reach their full potential
I have been a Microsoft Applications MVP for over 14 years. I am passionate about helping people reach their full potential, through training, coaching and mentorship.
Accelerate your Microsoft career with the 90 Day Mentoring Challenge (https://www.90daymc.com/)
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nz365guy)
If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy).
Thanks for listening 🚀 – Mark Smith
Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM
This episode challenges goal-driven thinking in an AI-enabled world through a conversation with Radhika Dutt. The discussion explores why OKRs and vanity metrics often fail, especially when AI accelerates optimisation without understanding. The core insight is a shift from goal setting to puzzle setting. By framing problems clearly, staying in the discomfort, and learning through small experiments, teams can build products that create long-term value. Practical examples show how this mindset helped recover stalled growth, improve trust, and reduce churn while keeping humans central to AI-driven decisions.
👉 Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/799
🎙️ What you’ll learn
• Why AI makes weak metrics and OKRs more dangerous, not more effective
• How to shift from goal setting to puzzle setting in product and AI work
• A practical framework for defining problems before jumping to solutions
• How to measure learning and narrative, not just numbers
• How puzzle solving supports sustainable innovation and growth
• Stop Chasing OKRs: Solve the Real Business Puzzle
👉 Chapters
• 00:00 Why Goals Break in an AI‑Driven World
• 03:30 Product Thinking as a System, Not a Feature
• 06:45 The Innovation Trap Inside OKRs
• 08:11 When AI Supercharges the Wrong Metrics
• 13:46 From Goal Setting to Puzzle Setting
• 22:47 Puzzle Solving in Practice
• 28:09 The Illusion That OKRs Work
✅ Find Radhika Online:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radhika-dutt/
• Twitter: https://x.com/radhikadutt
• Medium: https://rdutt.medium.com/
• Personal blog or website: https://rdutt.com/
• Books: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Product-Thinking-Mindset-Innovating/dp/1523093315
🔴Highlights
• “We measured success by the logos of companies on our website.”
• “Are we all just doomed to learn from trial and error?”
• “Everything that we humans can do in terms of optimizing numbers, AI can do it even better.”
• “What is the puzzle is the question we should have been asking.”
• “The more intimacy was gamified, the more it created a toxic dating environment.”
• “You kind of need to stay with the discomfort.”
• “Don’t just spit out numbers at me.”
• “They hated magic and they did not trust technology.”
• “This approach was more like putting your ears on the tracks.”
• “It is the biggest illusion that OKRs work.”
🧰 Mentioned
• Radical Product Thinking
https://www.radicalproduct.com/
• OKRs (Objectives and Key Results)
https://www.atlassian.com/agile/agile-at-scale/okr
• Puzzle setting and puzzle solving framework
https://www.radicalproduct.com/toolkit/
• Design thinking
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking
• Toyota 5 Whys
https://www.learnleansigma.com/guides/5-whys/
✅Keywords
artificial intelligence, ai innovation, okrs, product thinking, puzzle setting, metrics, innovation culture, design thinking, product strategy, ai metrics, business transformation, experimentation
Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption
✅ Let’s Connect:
Collaborate with me here – https://cloverbase.com
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/nz365guy
Website: http://www.nz365guy.com/subscribe
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy
X – https://twitter.com/nz365guy
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/nz365guy
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/nz365guy
Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.nz/nz365guy
I’m Mark Smith – nz365guy – Helping people reach their full potential
I have been a Microsoft Applications MVP for over 14 years. I am passionate about helping people reach their full potential, through training, coaching and mentorship.
Accelerate your Microsoft career with the 90 Day Mentoring Challenge (https://www.90daymc.com/)
Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nz365guy)
If you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nz365guy).
Thanks for listening 🚀 – Mark Smith
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