A goal-setting framework, Objectives and Key Results, pairing one short qualitative objective with three to five measurable outcomes so every team's work ladders up to a top-level company goal.
Intel CEO Andy Grove formalized OKRs as part of the management system he later wrote up in High Output Management, published in 1983. The framework spread through Silicon Valley because John Doerr, who learned it at Intel, took it with him when he became a venture investor, then pushed it into his portfolio companies in the late 1990s.