If the metric is stupid, then you're right that it is a waste of time to hit it. Part of the OKR process is defining meaningful goals (Objectives) and ways of

If the metric is stupid, then you're right that it is a waste of time to hit it. Part of the OKR process is defining meaningful goals (Objectives) and ways of measuring progress towards them (Key Results). If you do this part decently, the metrics won't be stupid. Once you have metrics that are not stupid and your team agrees that they will advance you towards your goal, it's kind of smart to do the work to move the metric. Not at the expense of everything else, but if this goal is deemed a priority, then it's OK to put it ahead of many other things. Being blindly data-driven can be toxic. Not measuring anything means you might be flying blindly. I've seen it first hand. There is a lot of value in combining objective measurements with sensible management.