For each executive — and some department leaders — to discuss the key metrics of that department in order to:
E-Group has decided to reduce the cadence of Group Conversations and Key Reviews to once per quarter. We've heard that preparing for Group Conversations is a big lift for team members, and we've seen that participation has declined over time. By reducing the number of meetings, we hope to increase the quality of presentations, have greater participation, and free up team member preparation time. We'll continue to iterate as we identify ways to increase the value of these sessions.
The Sr. EBA to the CFO is the scheduling DRI for the Monthly Key Reviews and will schedule no more than 2 Key Reviews on a given day. The Key Review meeting invitations will utilize that review's functional DRI's Zoom account, always be set to record, and set the Sr. EBA to the CFO and the functional DRI's corresponding EBA as co-hosts.
A Key Review should not be cancelled; permission to cancel or make changes to the Key Review schedule must be requested in the #key-review Slack channel, tagging the CFO for approval and the Sr. EBA to the CFO for awareness. If the CFO is not available, the CEO will make the decision. All changes to the Key Review schedule and/or invites have to be posted in the #key-review Slack channel.
Each month's Key Review schedule will be posted in the #key-review Slack channel on the first Monday of each month (if that Monday falls on a holiday it will be posted on the next business day).
A Key Review does not need to be scheduled if everything is on track and awareness is good.
Required invites are the CEO, the CFO, and the function head. Optional attendees are all other members of the e-group, Directs Group, and Chief of Staff to the CEO Group. Cross-Functional Initiatives DRIs are also invited to all meetings. Group Conversations are open to everyone. Key Reviews are open to E-Group and key stakeholders. Key Review Meetings may contain MNPI. As materials are limited access, participation is limited. If the Key Review meeting will not contain MNPI, it can be livestreamed to GitLab Unfiltered, with the distinction of being streamed as Private or Public, depending on the department.
Functions that have these meetings are:
If you would like to be added to a function's Key Review post in #key-review on Slack.
There are three meeting formats. The preferred meeting format leverages the KPI Slides project which uses Reveal JS to automate the slide preparation and leverages version control to provide a history of changes over time. Other teams leverage Google Slides for their meetings. Some teams leverage Sisense's existing automation functionality to prepare Google Slides with automated charts.
Content to cover in each Key Review:
Important notes:
Also see First Post is a badge of honor.
Function DRIs are expected to use and share their function's Key Review deck, meeting notes and any recordings for their scheduled Group Conversations. Group Conversations should follow Key Reviews, please see the Group Conversation schedule. The goal for these meetings are to discuss what is important and the decks should be the same. You can add additional slides to the Key Review to give more context, not all slides have to relate to KPIs and OKRs. The difference between the two meetings is the audience, the GCs are for a wider audience of the entire company.
To view a recording of a Key Review, visit the playlist on YouTube Unfiltered titled Key Reviews. If you are unable to view a video, please ensure you are logged in as GitLab Unfiltered.
Key Review recording links should be shared in the #key-review Slack channel by the functional department EBA within 24 hours of a Key Review being completed.
The original demo and proposal of using the KPI Slide project is on GitLab Unfiltered (internal).
The KPI Slides project is a GitLab-internal project since it includes KPIs that are not public. Those slides are deployed to GitLab pages (also internal, you must have access to the project to see the website). Each group that presents has one markdown file with their KPIs. Every month, groups create an MR to update that markdown file. The following slides need to be updated with an MR:
The following Key Reviews are automated: (all links are internal)
To create these slides, you will need Editor access in Sisense.
Video with explanation of this meeting format (GitLab Internal)
Many functions or departments now have Performance Indicator pages that allow one to move top-to-bottom in the handbook to see both KPIs and PIs. Here is an example of the VP of Development presenting the Development Department's KPIs and PIs in advance of their monthly Key Review.
This method is ideal, as it is handbook-first and makes it easy for everyone to contribute. Commentary can be added via an MR to the data/performance_indicators.yml file. The executive summary section can help consumers of the information understand where to dig in futher.
The difficulty in using performance indicator pages for Key Reviews is for groups who have a signficant number of Performance Indicators that cannot be public. For folks looking to consume this information quickly, having to 2FA into Sisense to see the information can be frustrating. For functions or departments for which this is true, it is recommended to use a different Key Review format.
OKR slides should:
At the end of each meeting, all atendees should be able to clearly answer what we are trying to achieve and whether we are on track. The Key Review immediately following the close of quarter should address not only new OKRs but also include an update on scoring of what we have achieved in the previous quarter.
