Most companies drown you in "goals." They're vague, fluffy, and perfectly engineered to waste your time. OKRs, KPIs, "North Stars" — all clever ways to avoid the uncomfortable act of actually committing to something concrete. Operators don't thrive in ambiguity. You don't need another slogan about "driving impact." You need a contract: clear, specific, measurable agreements that define what's to be done, how it'll be judged, and when it's complete. Contracts cut through the theater.
Why Contracts Beat Goals
- Goals are vibes, contracts are commitments.
A goal says: "Improve user engagement." A contract says: "Ship feature X to production by July 15 with success criteria A, B, and C." - Goals measure hope, contracts measure delivery.
A goal says: "Hit 10,000 weekly active users." That's an expectation, not a commitment. A contract says: "Launch the website with sign-up, login, and onboarding flows." Visitors may come or not — that's outside your control. - Goals invite excuses, contracts close the loopholes.
With goals, failure is "we tried." With contracts, failure is "we didn't deliver." No hiding.
The Anatomy of a Contract
Every piece of work should have three parts:
- Commitment = What exactly you're delivering.
- Criteria = How success will be judged.
- Constraints = Deadlines, dependencies, and scope limits.
If one of these is missing, you don't have a contract — you have a wish list.
Example: Startup vs. Enterprise
- Startup (chaos mode):
The CEO blurts out, "We need virality!" A traditional IC scribbles down "Goal: increase shares." A disciplined operator reframes it: "Contract: Implement referral program with invite tracking by Friday. Success criteria: each user can send an invite, system logs it, and referrals are redeemable." Visitors and adoption are expectations, not commitments. - Enterprise (bureaucracy mode):
A VP declares, "Our OKR is to reduce churn by 5%." That's not a commitment — it's a prayer. An operator reframes: "Contract: Launch cancellation flow survey by Q3. Success criteria: survey triggers 100% of cancellations, data exported weekly, and insights shared with retention team." Churn reduction may follow — but it's not what was actually promised.
Why Traditional Approaches Fail
- OKRs: They're either so vague they're useless or so rigid they're lies. Nobody actually aligns around them except in QBR slide decks.
- KPIs: Fine for dashboards, terrible for defining what you owe. You can't "deliver" a metric. You can only deliver a change or a thing that might affect a metric.
- Agile theater: "User stories" that read like Mad Libs aren't commitments. "As a user, I want X so that Y" doesn't define what's due or how to know it's done.
These systems are great at giving leaders the illusion of control while leaving operators buried in ambiguity.
Takeaway: Stop working toward "goals." Start working under contracts. A contract makes your commitments undeniable, your success criteria explicit, and your time non-negotiable. Goals are how managers avoid accountability. Contracts are how operators earn it.
