The Road Trip
Business jargon is designed to sound complicated. Let’s fix that. Imagine you are driving a car on a road trip to a beach you’ve never visited.
You need three things to succeed: a car that works, a dashboard to tell you if you’re speeding, and a GPS to tell you where to go.
CSF
The Car (Fuel, Tires)
KPI
The Dashboard (Speedometer)
OKR
The GPS (Destination)
Focus Comparison
Where each metric spends its energy
CSF
Critical Success Factors
“What MUST go right?”
These are the non-negotiables. If a CSF fails, the business stops. They aren’t usually numbers; they are states of being. In our road trip analogy, a CSF is “The car has an engine.” If you don’t have an engine, it doesn’t matter what your GPS says.
Example: Airline
- • CSF 1: Safety Certification (Must have).
- • CSF 2: Operational Fleet (Must have planes).
- • CSF 3: Skilled Pilots (Must have people).
KPI
Key Performance Indicators
“Are we healthy right now?”
KPIs are your dashboard. They monitor the steady-state health of the business. You don’t necessarily want to “maximize” all of them; you just want them in the green zone. You don’t want your car engine temperature to be 0 degrees, nor 500 degrees. You want it stable.
KPIs are monitors.
KPI Examples
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) > 4.5
- Website Uptime > 99.9%
- Employee Turnover < 10%
OKR
Objectives & Key Results
“Where are we going next?”
OKRs are aggressive, temporary goals of change. They are the GPS setting a destination. You don’t “maintain” an OKR; you achieve it and set a new one.
Dominate the European Market
Note: Once you launch in Germany, that OKR is done. It might become a KPI (maintain German sales) later.
Summary
The Cheat Sheet
| Feature | CSF | KPI | OKR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analogy | The Car | Dashboard | GPS |
| Duration | Permanent | Ongoing | Temporary |
| Goal | Existence | Health | Change |
| Example | “Have Funding” | “Revenue > $1M” | “Launch App” |
