Last two weeks, we updated a bunch of things, and it’s time to show you what you can do at Focus.

The new OKR Tree

We rebuilt the OKR tree. The tree had only 3 levels of objectives before – the company’s OKRs, teams, and individuals. However, customers asked us to add more levels because they have more complex structures. For example, company’s OKRs -> departments’ OKRs -> teams’ OKRs -> individuals’ OKRs. 

So, it’s possible to do now. No more limits at the OKR three now. To build the tree, you should specify a parent OKR in OKR settings.

Date filter in OKRs

We added date filters to objectives. It’s possible to sort OKRs based on the time range of the OKR’s due in date. It allows you to see objectives for the current quarter by default and focus on them. 

OKR notifications on Slack

We added more data in notifications in Slack. The Focus bot will send notifications when someone updates OKRs. It’s possible to see previous metrics and the progress that the team has.

You can set OKR notifications in Slack here. And this is the guide on how to install and set the Focus bot.

Updates in pricing

We updated the pricing model in September. Here are 2 changes:

1) Annual plans. There is a 20% discount for annual plans now. 
2) Free plan. The focus plan with OKRs is free for individuals now.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers!

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You can use the new Slack bot for 3 things now: 

• Run check-ins or other campaigns (daily check-ins, weekly updates, weekly plans, or your custom campaigns)
• Get OKR notifications and updates in Slack
• Run Icebreakers in Slack

How to install the new Focus bot?

1. Delete current Slack bot in your Slack workspace (Settings & administration > Manage apps > click on the bot “focus v1” and click “Remove bot” button in the bot settings). 
2. Install the new bot (button will be here)

About the bot Settings

After installation, you can set bot for your team. You can specify members for check-ins (by default, the bot will send the check-ins to everyone), change time, or choose a public channel for results delivery. If you choose a public channel, please add the bot to this channel. 

Check your campaign settings here.

If you create Objectives at Focus, the Focus bot will send notifications when someone updates OKRs (Objective and Key Results). It helps to sync the team and focus on the most important things. To use it, please specify a public channel for OKRs notifications and add the Focus bot to the channel.

Also, the bot can remind users who didn’t update their OKRs last week or last 2 weeks. 

You can edit OKR settings here.

Let me know what you think about the new bot.

Check our Guide for Slack

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Status meetings are a serious waste of time 

The majority of employees hate meetings. A Korn Felly survey reveals that 67% of workers say spending too much time in meetings distracts them from doing their job. On average, 15% of an organization’s time is spent in meetings.

At the same time, we see that management is changing. Frederic Laloux in his book “Reinventing organizations” describes that powered authority based paradigm evolutes to relationships and people paradigm where the more teams are lead by values and purposes, not hierarchy formal roles. Self-management companies are the next stage in management evolution. 

Companies move away from costly status meetings that people don’t like to more lightweight solutions, especially in remote companies where a team should have a high level of self-management. Building a high-performing culture is a hard deal where managers should understand how to create strong communication and processes across the company.

Focus bot for standups and employee recognition in Slack

We launched a Focus bot that brings your communication in Slack to the next level. 

After talking with many teams, we had a clear view of status meetings and communication in companies. For project managers, it’s crucial to understand what’s going on in the team each day without long meetings or Zoom calls. For scrum master, it’s vital to run daily standups and build a culture of a self-organizing team. For teams, it’s better to go away from endless meetings and to be aligned across an organization to produce the highest outcomes. 

We believe that lightweight scrum meetings (aka daily standups) are a more effective way for teams to stay in sync without wasting time. You can learn more about scrum meetings and how it works in this article.

How to install Focus bot

• Install the bot to your Slack workspace. It takes less than a minute. Just click on the button ‘Add to Slack’ and allow the bot to do its job. You should only have an account in Focus before adding the bot in your Slack workspace. If you don’t have an account, then you might sign up here and return to Slack installation later.
• Edit settings (optional). You can change the time for running standups or questions. Also, you might choose channels for reports delivery or use asynchronous standups. You can perform these and other actions in settings as an admin.
• Using the bot. The Focus bot begins to work after installation. It will run daily standups and weekly updates according to your settings.

It’s not only about scrum meetings

We believe that employee recognition is another crucial area for building a great culture in the company. And yeah, Focus bot gives you leverage for using regular opportunities for creating an amazing atmosphere in the team. It helps your employees to be recognized for their accomplishments through the Focus platform.

Read the guide to get more details about Focus bot and how it works in Slack. 

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