Our goal: No goals

The wisdom of setting business goals-always striving for bigger and better is so established that it seems like the only thing left to debate is whether the goals are ambitious enough.

So, imagine the response when we tell people that we don't do goals. At all. No customer-count goals, no sales goals, no retention goals, no revenue goals, no specific profitability goals (other than to be profitable). Seriously.

This anti-goal mindset defenitely makes Krodox an outcast in the business world. Part of the minority, the ones who simply "don't get how it works".

We know how it works - We just don't care. We don't mind leaving some money on the table and we don't need to squeeze every drop of the lemon. Those final drops usually taste sour, anyway.

Are we interested in increasing profits? Yes. Revenues? Yes. Being more effective? Yes. Making our products easier, faster, and more useful? Yes. Making our customers and employees happier? Yes, absolutely. Do we love iterating and improving? Yup!

Do we want to make things better? All the time. But do we want to maximize "better" through constantly chasing goals? No. No, thanks.

That's why we don't have goals at Krodox. We didn't when we started, and now nearly 9 years later, we still don't. We simply do the best work we can on a daily basis.

Because, let's face it: Goals are fake.

Nearly all of them are artificial targets set for the sake of setting targets. These made-up numbers then function as a source of unnecessary stress until they are either archived or abandoned. And when that happens, you are suppoused to pick new ones and start stressing again. Nothing ever stops at the quarterly win. Every one of them has to produce, exceed, and beat EXPECTATIONS.

Why would you do that to yourself and your business? Doing great, creative work is hard enough. So is building a long-lasting sustainable business with happy employees. So why impose some arbitrary number to loom over your job, salary, bonus and kid's college fund?

Plus, there is an even darker side to goal setting. Chasing goals often leads companies to compromise their morals, honestly and integrity to reach those fake numbers. The best intentions slip when you are behind. Need to improve margins by a few points? Let's turn a blind eye to qualify for a while. Need to find another $400,000 this quarter to hit that number? Let's make it harder for customers to request refunds.

Ever try to cancel an account with your cell phone company? It's not an inherently complicated act. But many phone companies make it so difficult to do beacuse they have retention goals to hit. They want to make it hard for you to cancel so it's easier for them to hit their numbers.

What about something really audacious: No targets, no goals?

You can absolutely run a great business without a single goal. You don't need something fake to do something real. And if you really must have a goal, how about just "staying in business"? Or serving your customer well? Or being delightful place to work? Just because these goals are harder to quantify does not make them any less important.

It does not have to be crazy at work - Book by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried