How to Measure Success: Making OKRs and KPIs Actually Work

Most teams track numbers—but few measure what truly matters. In this insightful and practical session, Ken Sipe breaks down how to align organizational goals with measurable outcomes using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that actually drive success.

Ken will cut through the buzzwords and frameworks to show how engineering teams, product leaders, and executives can build a measurement culture that’s both data-driven and purpose-aligned. You’ll learn how to define metrics that motivate, avoid vanity indicators, and establish traceability from daily work to strategic outcomes.

Key takeaways include:

How to craft meaningful OKRs that align technical and business goals

The difference between activity, output, and outcome metrics—and why it matters

Techniques for cascading objectives across teams without creating chaos

How to use metrics as a feedback system, not a weapon

Real-world examples of OKRs and KPIs that improved clarity, accountability, and results

Whether you’re scaling an engineering organization or trying to bring more focus to your current team, this session will help you turn measurement into momentum—and ensure that success isn’t just tracked, but achieved.


Ken Sipe

About Ken Sipe

Ken is a distributed application engineer. Ken has worked with Fortune 500 companies to small startups in the roles of developer, designer, application architect and enterprise architect. Ken's current focus is on containers, container orchestration, high scale micro-service design and continuous delivery systems.

Ken is an international speaker on the subject of software engineering speaking at conferences such as JavaOne, JavaZone, Great Indian Developer Summit (GIDS), and The Strange Loop. He is a regular speaker with NFJS where he is best known for his architecture and security hacking talks. In 2009, Ken was honored by being awarded the JavaOne Rockstar Award at JavaOne in SF, California and the JavaZone Rockstar Award at JavaZone in Oslo, Norway as the top ranked speaker.

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