In this 2010 interview with The New York Times, Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive of games company Zynga, which was established in 2007 and is best known for its hugely successful games FarmVille and Zynga Poker, explains how the business harnessed OKRs to inspire a deeper level of engagement among employees. Pincus thinks of OKRs as ‘individual roadmaps’ that help keep people focused ‘on the three things that matter – not the ten.’

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Pincus’s weekly approach differs slightly from the traditional OKR model. ‘I ask everybody to write down on Sunday night or Monday morning what are [their] three priorities for the week,’ he explains in the interview, ‘and then on Friday see how [they] did against them.’ He found that this system keeps teams motivated and on track without pushing them to the point of burnout.

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While the interview itself is fairly brief, it provides a valuable insight into how CEOs can adjust the OKR model to best suit their company. Pincus also offers up useful tips on managing teams. He stresses the importance of ensuring colleagues feel complete ownership of the goals they’ve been set.