Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions.

Go to Notes

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Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to KeepHustlingTech Newsletter, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!

You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of KeepHustlingTech Newsletter can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.

Why Substack Notes

Fellow writers and readers are spending time in Notes for a variety of reasons.

Ted Gioia sees Notes as a forum for dialogue.

The idea behind Notes is simple. Millions of people now participate in Substack as writers and readers—but much of this is built on long articles and essays. We now have a forum for dialoguing and sharing shorter posts.

Chris Ryan is drawn to Substack as an alternative for legacy social media.

One of my main reasons for joining Substack was to wean myself off exploitative social media platforms. I’m hoping this is going to help move us along on that journey!

Sherman Alexie wants to create a kind and creative new space in Notes.

I’m going to focus on being positive, with my own thoughts and photos and by linking to songs, stories, poems from around the web and from other Substacks.

If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!

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In this blog, we'll be exploring the Kerberos authentication protocol which was developed in the 1980s at MIT to solve network authentication problems. It became popular and was made freely available. In 1993, Kerberos v5 was standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), in the document RFC 1510, and it is now widely used in enterprise environments.

Enjoy!

Kerberos is a network authentication protocols based on tickets. It provides clients and servers a reliable way to verify each other before establishing a connection.

Kerberos authentication involves two types of tickets: Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT) and Service Tickets (ST). Users are issued a TGT after logging in with their password, and they use it to obtain an ST when accessing network shares or web servers. The ST is presented to the server to start a session and access the desired resources.

Some common use cases:

1. Single sign-on (SSO): Kerberos supports SSO, allowing users to authenticate once and then access multiple resources without having to enter their credentials again.

2. Web authentication: Kerberos can be used to authenticate users accessing web applications, providing a secure way to access sensitive information.

3. Cross-realm authentication: Kerberos can be used to authenticate users across different realms or domains, allowing for seamless access to resources across different networks.

However, Kerberos is not without its shortcomings. The weakest link in the Kerberos chain is the password. Passwords can be brute force, cracked or stolen by known methods illustrated below.

Why should you care?

It's the potential for unauthorized access to sensitive information. Kerberos, being the backbone of AD authentication, is often exploited by attackers during various stages of a cyber-attack, such as initial access, privilege escalation, defense evasion, credential access, and lateral movement.

By recognizing and addressing these weaknesses, organizations can proactively protect themselves against potential security threats and safeguard their sensitive data.

What's next?

The use of cloud-based authentication methods like OAuth and OpenID Connect is increasing. They offer more flexibility and scalability than traditional Kerberos authentication and are useful for modern cloud-based applications that need authentication across multiple domains.

Blockchain-based authentication, Contextual authentication (location, device, and behavior patterns), Continuous authentication, Passwordless authentication (FIDO 2) as well as MFA and biometric authentication are becoming more popular for sensitive applications and services, especially in finance and healthcare. They provide additional layers of security beyond traditional Kerberos authentication, which only uses username and password.

There has also been a trend towards zero-trust security architectures that assume all users and devices are untrusted. This approach relies on various authentication mechanisms like MFA, biometrics, and device attestation to ensure secure access to sensitive resources.

While these trends do not necessarily mean the end of Kerberos authentication, they do suggest that its use may become more specialized, particularly in environments where legacy systems and applications still rely on it.

Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope this information was helpful!

References and some good reads:

• Detecting Active Directory Kerberos Attacks: Threat Research Release, March 2022 | Splunk

• Active Directory Kerberos Attacks - Splunk Security Content

• Decrypt Kerberos/NTLM “encrypted stub data” in Wireshark | by Clément Notin [Tenable] | Tenable TechBlog | Medium

• Don’t make your SOC blind to Active Directory attacks: 5 surprising behaviors of Windows audit policy | by Clément Notin [Tenable] | Tenable TechBlog | Medium

• SANS Digital Forensics and Incident Response Blog | Kerberos in the Crosshairs: Golden Tickets, Silver Tickets, MITM, and More | SANS Institute

• Mutual Authentication Using Kerberos - Win32 apps | Microsoft Learn

• Kerberos: Secure Authentication | SANS Institute

This is a conversation space in the Substack app that I set up exclusively for my subscribers — kind of like a group chat or live hangout. I’ll post short prompts, thoughts, and updates that come my way, and you can jump into the discussion.

To join our chat, you’ll need to download the Substack app, now available for both iOS and Android. Chats are sent via the app, not email, so turn on push notifications so you don’t miss conversation as it happens.

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2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

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Luckily, the Feynman Technique is here to help. Developed by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, it's a simple yet effective framework that many students and professionals use.

In this blog post, we'll explore the Feynman Technique and its ability to aid you in learning efficiently.

Step 1: Set the Stage.
The first step in the Feynman Technique is to set the stage. This involves selecting a topic that you want to learn and understand deeply. It is essential to choose a subject that you are genuinely interested in and passionate about. Once you have identified your topic, you should gather all the relevant information and resources necessary for your learning journey.

Step 2: ELI5 (Explain It To Me Like I'm 5)
The second step in the Feynman Technique is to ELI5 or explain it to me like I'm 5. This step involves breaking down the complex concepts into simple terms that a five-year-old could understand. This is a critical step in the learning process because it helps you identify areas where you might be lacking in your understanding. If you can explain a topic in simple terms, you have a good grasp of the underlying concepts.

Step 3: Assess & Study
The third step in the Feynman Technique is to assess and study. This step involves reviewing your understanding of the topic and identifying any areas where you might be lacking. It is essential to identify your weaknesses and focus on them to improve your understanding. This step also involves studying the topic in more detail, using various resources such as books, articles, and online courses.

Step 4: Organize, Convey & Review
The final step in the Feynman Technique is to organize, convey, and review. This step involves organizing your understanding of the topic and presenting it in a clear and concise manner. This could be done through writing, presentations, or discussions with others. It is also essential to review your understanding of the topic regularly to ensure that you have retained the knowledge.

Example: Let us take an example of a student learning about the concept of photosynthesis.
In the first step, the student would gather all the relevant resources and information on photosynthesis. In the second step, the student would ELI5 the concept by breaking down the process into simple terms such as "plants make food from sunlight."
In the third step, the student would assess their understanding of the topic by identifying areas where they might be lacking, such as the chemical reactions involved. The student would then study these areas in more detail using various resources.
In the final step, the student would organize their understanding of photosynthesis and present it in a clear and concise manner, such as through a presentation or essay.

Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope this information was helpful!

Before we dive in, we need to understand the distinction between authentication and authorization.

Authentication and authorization are like a bouncer at a club. Authentication checks your ID at the door to make sure you're not a fake, while authorization checks the VIP list to see what access you have once you're inside.

OAuth is mainly used for allowing users to grant access to their resources on one website to another website or application, without sharing their login credentials. For example, if you use your Facebook account to log in to another website or app, OAuth is likely the protocol being used to authenticate you. The other example is Authorization for API access - Many APIs (e.g. Google Maps, Twitter) use OAuth to grant access to third-party applications that need to use their services. For example, a weather app may use Google Maps to show the user's current location on a map.

OIDC on the other hand, is a newer protocol that builds on top of OAuth and adds identity information to the authentication process. It is used to verify a user's identity and provide information about them, such as their name and email address. It is commonly used in modern single sign-on (SSO) systems.

SAML which stands for Security Assertion Markup Language, is an older protocol used primarily in enterprise environments and SaaS applications. It allows users to log in to multiple applications using a single set of credentials, which can simplify the login process and increase security. It also uses for cross-organizational collaboration - can be used to provide secure access to resources across different organizations. For example, a university may use SAML to allow students from different schools to access shared resources such as library databases.

In conclusion, these protocols serve different purposes in web authentication and authorization, and understanding the differences is important for building secure and efficient web applications.

Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope this information was helpful!

You're not alone. With the increasing demand for scalability, agility, and cost-effectiveness, more and more organizations are moving their applications to the cloud.

But with so many application migration strategies available, how do you know which one is right for your business?

In this post, we will explore the 6 most common application migration strategies and their benefits and drawbacks, so you can make an informed decision and ensure a successful migration. Whether you're looking to re-host, re-platform, re-architect, re-purchase, retire, or retain your applications, we've got you covered.

Let's dive in!

In conclusion, selecting the right migration strategy is crucial for the success of any application migration project. It is important to carefully evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy before making a decision.

Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope this information was helpful!

Think of it like sorting your clothes - you might put all your shirts in one pile, pants in another, and so on. K-means clustering does the same thing with data.

Here's how it works: imagine you have a bunch of data points that you want to group into different clusters. First, you choose how many clusters you want - let's say 3. Then, the algorithm will randomly assign each data point to one of the clusters. Next, it will calculate the "center" of each cluster based on the average of all the data points in that cluster. After that, it will reassign each data point to the cluster whose center it is closest to. This process repeats until the clusters stop changing.

The end result is that you have 3 clusters of data points that are similar to each other, and different from the other clusters. You can then use this information for things like market segmentation, image recognition, fraud detection, recommender systems and more.

To learn more about K-Means Clustering in Python, check out "Foundations of Data Science: K-Means Clustering in Python" by Coursera.

It's important to know about the 4Vs of big data because it helps us understand the characteristics of large amounts of data that businesses and organizations collect.

The 4Vs stand for volume, velocity, variety, and veracity.

1. Volume: Imagine a library with millions of books. That's a lot of books! Similarly, big data has a lot of information - so much that it can be difficult to manage and analyze without the right tools.

2. Velocity: Think of a fast-moving river. Just as the water in the river is constantly flowing, big data is always coming in from different sources at a rapid pace.

3. Variety: Imagine a buffet with many different types of food - Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and more. Similarly, big data comes in many different forms, such as text, images, audio, and video.

4. Veracity: Consider a game of telephone where a message is whispered from person to person. Sometimes, the message can get distorted or changed along the way. Similarly, big data may contain errors or inconsistencies, so it's important to make sure it is accurate and trustworthy before using it for important decisions. We can use various methods such as data cleaning, data validation, and data verification so as to make more informed decisions and avoid errors or inaccuracies that can have negative consequences.

Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope this information was helpful!

Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, get ready to discover some fresh ideas that will take your IT solution architecture game to the next level!

Use your first principles thinking to understand why. If you haven't read my other blog about it, read here.

Enjoy!

When it comes to solution design principles, we all have some ideas in mind, right?

Here are some of mine.

You don't need all of them but some of them are just necessary. However, each of them should be clearly related back to business objectives and key architecture drivers. 

• Scalability - a solution must be capable of (dynamically) increasing itself according to the demand (horizonal or vertical). We're in 2023 now people.

• Security (all about CIA) - a solution must be secure regarding the communication between components, data at rest/in motion, accessibility of service administrations etc.

• Resiliency - a solution must be capable of being stable also at times of intensive load can recover from expectational states. 

• Fail-over capability - a solution must be able to continue working even if instances of components are not available.

• SPOF (Single Point of Failure) - it must be clear which components are crucial to mitigate potential risks.

• Accessibility, Availability - a solution must be deployed as close as possible to the users (low latency) and must guarantee a high up-time SLA.

• Ownership - All components must have clear ownership / accountability.

• Build comprehensive documentation (HLD/LLD) 

• Technology independence - a solution should be independent of specific technology and there can operate on a variety of technology platforms.

So, besides those functional requirements, there're several other things that solutions architect can consider listed as below:

• Cost optimization - finding the perfect mix of technologies and infrastructure to solve the problem, and to spend a minimum of money. (Reuse before buy, buy before build)

• User Experience - supporting the UX team find the ideal user interface if you're building a product/process/service or software, guiding users intuitively through the solution.

• Performance - support with load testing to ensure the expected number of concurrent users and client services.

There are more based on TOGAF but hey, those are structured set of ideas that collectively define and guide our organization, from values through actions and results.

Thanks for reading my blog!

We're making decisions every single day of our lives. Be it a small or big one. We all used different kind of reasonings which allow us to weigh benefits and disadvantages of two or more courses of action before choosing the one with most benefit or the one suits our needs. The most common one would be a reasoning by analogy which involves the use of past experiences to solve problems that are similar to problems solved before. It may be the fastest way to solve problems but definitely not the most certain.

The one I wanted to discuss here is a reasoning by first principles, also called first principles thinking.

"We get through life by reasoning by analogy, which essentially means copying what other people do with slight variations. And you have to do that. Otherwise, mentally, you wouldn't be able to get through the day. But when you want to do something new, you have to apply the first-principles approach." ~ Elon Musk

Often times, when we faced with difficult problems, we tend to fall back on our pre-existing beliefs and opinions. With first principles thinking, we can break out of this herd mentality, think creatively, and create some unique solutions to very common problems. Thus, make our valuable contribution in any field like IT, daily life etc.

It's sort of like 'boiling down to fundamental truths and reasoning up from there".

In some simpler terms, it's a fact or premise or conclusion that is the only conclusion, regardless of your perspective. And It's a basic proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption. It also means establishing a fundamental fact or conclusion that you know is true, deconstructing it down to its core elements, and working up from there.

How to do it?

One way is to use Socratic questioning method. There're so many methods out there. There's no hard and fast rule. There's a popular method like fish bone tool for root cause analysis. Google it if you want to learn further.

The sample process looks like this. 

• Clarifying questions like 'What do you mean by Microsoft Teams is slow?" Questions like (5 Whys, what, How) can help to break down the question, idea, thought or direction to the most basic truths.

• Challenging assumptions like "Why do you think it's related to network or endpoint?"

• Looking for evidence like "Are there event/audit/diagnostics logs to support this idea?"

• Considering alternative perspectives like "How do I know I am correct?" and "What might other experts think of this?"

• Questioning the original question like "Why did I think that?", "Was I correct?"

What's in it for me?

There're many. It may take time compared to reasoning by analogy but there're tons of benefits.

• Problem solving becomes fun.

• You automatically improve your knowledge with every problem you solve.

• You learn what is important and what's not.

• You can drive innovation.

• You feel smart LOL!

Thanks for reading my blog.

References: Google, Elon Musk, past mentors and my father.

The following are five parts:

1. Overview of statistics and scales of measurement

2. Types of data

3. Measures of location such as mean, median and mode.

4. Measures of location (percentile and quartiles) and measures of variation (range and interquartile range)

5. Finally, measures of variation (variance and standard deviation). Enjoy!

This part 1 is about overview of statistics and scales of measurement.

In statistics, exploratory data analysis is an approach of analyzing data sets to summarize their main characteristics, often using statistical graphics and other data visualization methods.

Statistics has many applications in many disciplines and can e used to predict results of an election, forecast weather, forecast sales and more. It has two main branches; descriptive and inferential statistics.

You might notice the words, populace data and sample data. Those are just jargons used by Statisticians. Population and sample are nothing but names to differential different set of data.

For example, suppose you’re working on research to know age differences between male and female students in a university. Population or population data means all students (i.e., both males and females) in that university. Can you guess what sample data means in the above example?

A sample is a subset of population that is representative of the population from which it was selected. Read the table below which i summaries it for your easy understanding.

The problem is that 99.999… % of the time, we don’t — or can’t — know the real value of a population parameter. The best we can do is estimate the parameter! This is where samples and statistics come in to play.

Next, I’ll discuss about scales of measurement or level of measurements. Understanding this is important to interpreting the numbers assigned to people, objects, and events. Moreover, it’s an indicator of the most suitable data summary and statistical analysis.

Psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens developed the best-known classification with four levels, or scales, of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.

There are four scales or levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Read the table below for your easy understanding.

This is the end of Exploratory Data Analysis Part I, Overview of statistics and scales of measurement. I hope you have a fruitful reading.

If you enjoy this article and want to read more, please support me by giving claps or responses. Thank you!

Don’t forget to check out on the next part 2 about Types of data.

The road to being passwordless is a journey. Almost everyone wants the instant gratification of achieving a passwordless environment but can easily become overwhelmed by many challenges and frustrations.

Before i start explaining Windows Hello and Hello for Business, let me give you some background story of why all tech companies are pushing for passwordless journey as part of digital transformation.

The cyberattack landscape is getting sophisticated. As you might have heard recently Microsoft confirmed it was also breached in recent SolarWinds supply chain hack. It’s the most widespread and complex events cybersecurity history. It was a clear reminder of what they are all up against.

One of the main identity related topic during Microsoft Ignite 2021 was also about passwordless strategy and they are urging their customers to start passwordless journey.

If you’re a nerd like me, you might know MFA (Multi Factor Authentication). It’s a Cybersecurity 101. To break it down, MFA typically have 3 separate categories of authentication factors such as the knowledge, possession and inherence categories.

Before you ask what the heck are those, let me explain.

• The knowledge factor is something you know such as username and password.

• The possession factor is something you have such as OTP (One-Time Password or PIN or token).

• The inherence factor is essentially any biological traits you got such as fingerprint, facial recognition, voice recognition, retina scan etc. In other words, it’s something you are.

So, going passwordless means they will get rid of passwords for good. The idea is that they are getting rid of something you know part and replace it with something you have and/or something you are (i.e. biometric authentication available on Windows 10 devices).

The end goal of most tech companies is to transition into a passwordless world. A world where users never type their password, never change their password and do not know their password. Sounds interesting?

Read on..

This is the part where i explain about the different between Windows Hello vs Hello for Business.

The difference between Windows Hello and Windows Hello for Business

Windows Hello

• Users can create a so called “Windows Hello convenience PIN” or biometric gesture on their personal devices for convenient sign-in. If you sign into Windows 10 with fingerprint or face recognition, then you are already using Windows Hello.

• This use of Windows Hello is unique to the device in which it’s setup. Basically it means that if someone else knows the PIN you use to login to your Windows 10 device, that PIN is theoretically useless on another device, since that PIN is device specific and stored locally.

• It’s backed by asymmetric (public/private key) or certificate-based authentication.

• Both Windows Hello and Hello for Business requires Windows 10 device which either includes built-in support for biometric logins or else you’ll need to install a compatible biometric login device such as a webcam or a fingerprint reader.

• Windows Hello reduces the risk of keyloggers or password phishing, but the login process still uses your password hash. As you are normally not joined to a domain and your hash cannot harm other devices, this is a reduced risk.

• It leverages the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip.

• Microsoft will be deprecating convenience PINs in the future and will publish the date early to ensure customers have adequate lead time to deploy Windows Hello for Business. Ouch!

Windows Hello for Business

• In a nutshell, Windows Hello for Business =Windows Hello + the Asymmetric Authentication method (combines biometric and PKI mechanisms). It replaces passwords with strong two-factor authentication on PCs and mobile devices and lets user authenticate to an Active Directory or Azure Active Directory account.

• Windows Hello for Business incorporates minimum two factors: something you have (i.e., user’s private key protected by the device’s TPM) and something you know (i.e., PIN) and/or biometric.

However, most companies replace this ‘something you know’ authentication factor with the something you are which is biometric.

• Windows Hello for Business uses key-based or certificate-based authentication and is considered MFA authentication. It registers a credential to Azure AD or Active Directory.

• If you’re a business owner, your employees can use fingerprint or facial recognition as an alternative method to unlocking a device. This type of authentication doesn’t roam among devices, isn’t shared with a server, and can’t easily be extracted from a device. If your multiple employees share a device (max is 10), each of them will use his or her own biometric data on the device.

• You can configure this by Group Policy or mobile device management (MDM)policy, always uses key-based or certificate-based authentication. It’s much more secure than Windows Hello convenience PIN.

• It addresses several problems with passwords such as strong passwords can be difficult to remember and most of us use the same password on multiple sites, passwords are subjected to replay attacks and most importantly business users can expose their passwords due to phishing attacks. As you might aware phishing attacks are on the rise as people working from home.

Before i end this, a lot of people asked this question.

‘How can a PIN more secure than a password?’.

The answer is that.

• the PIN is tied to the specific device on which it was setup. The PIN is useless to anyone without that specific hardware (i.e., laptop, mobile etc.). However, someone who steals your password can sign into your account from anywhere, but if they steal your PIN, they’d have to steal your physical device too!

• Your login password is transmitted over the network to server which means it can be intercepted in transmission or stolen from a server whereas a PIN is local to a device, and it isn’t transmitted anywhere and stored on any server.

If you’re planning for WHB (Windows Hello for Business), i suggest you go through this documentation below from Microsoft.

Planning a Windows Hello for Business Deployment — Microsoft 365 Security | Microsoft Docs

If you enjoy this article and want to read more, please support me by giving claps or responses. Thank you!

The term ‘User Enrollment’ is designed by Apple for BYOD — or bring your own device type where the user (you and me), not the organization or company, owns the device.

What’s this about?

User enrollment is introduced by Apple during WWDC 2019. Instead of managing entire BYOD device using mobile device management solution (such as AirWatch, Intune etc.), they are managing an enterprise user identity on the device in the form of configuring a managed Apple ID.

Confusing?

I suggest you soldier on. In short, this managed Apple ID allows iOS device to create a new separate, cryptographically protected APFS volume specific to the managed data of the BYOD user. So, any data installed by the MDM vendor will associate with this managed Apple ID. Any other personal data, personal apps, photos etc., will stay on personal Apple ID of the device.

This is mainly designed to keep personal and company data separate by associating a personal Apple ID with personal data and a managed Apple ID with corporate data.

User enrollment is similar to what Google Android Enterprise has already achieved, they’ve been calling it ‘Work profile’

What are the benefits?

It’s mostly an additional privacy created by the separation and protection of a user’s personal data and the securing of corporate data. Your Information Security dept. will love it.

Another benefit is BYOD devices using this enrollment method can now use Apple watch to unlock their iOS devices by using numeric PIN instead of alphanumeric.

What are the challenges?

1. Due to the nature of this user enrollment method, MDM vendor can no longer access any persistent identifiers, any sort of PII associated with the device, especially what apps user has installed. You might say it’s a good thing since you don’t want company to know what you have on your device. However, most companies have their on-premise Wi-Fi which requires to check your mobile device’s UDID to verify that your device is enrolled to company approved MDM vendor. This will not be possible if you used ‘User enrollment’ method.

2. You would need to re-enroll your mobile device to user enrollment method if you already enrolled using different method.

3. This really depends on your company security policy where 2FA (Two factor authentication) is enforced or not. If it is, you will need to provide 2FA token.

What is required to enable User Enrollment?

This is a question for technical person (your IT team) to know. You will need federated authentication. Remember the managed Apple ID I talked earlier? It is an enterprise identity created on behalf of users by Apple Business Manager through federation to IdP such as Azure AD or any other IdPs. You will need to enable it so that your company email address will become a managed Apple ID.

The rest is just user communication, onboarding and getting clearance from your Information Security dept.

Hope you enjoy this article. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any queries!

OKR is a goal-setting framework driven by outcomes that includes two components: Objectives and Key Results. This framework has successfully been used in many large organizations such as Google. Twitter and LinkedIn with an increasing popularity over the past years due to its effectiveness.

Objectives are ambitious, clearly defined goals but might feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Key Results are specific measures used to track the achievement of those defined goals. It should be easy to grade with a number such as 0–1.0 scale.

OKRs represent more than progress, they represent the meaningful changes/improvement you want to see in your teams and organisation.

Why should you need it?

OKRs promise several key factors critical to organization moving towards increased human-centric and value-driving ways of working such as:

1. Agile and Lean ways of working where OKRs are built on short review cycles so that you can be nimbler, and staff can reach to changes much faster.

2. Transparency, which means OKRs are public; everyone in the company should be able see what everyone else is working on. Objectives should be aligned with the overall company strategy as a guiding star. Clarity and purpose makes people feel motivated and engaged.

3. Ambitious: Objectives are ambitious, challenging and inspirational. This makes people think outside the box and inspire them to achieve their best possible work.

What are the benefits of OKRs?

1. Capture cross-functional dependencies across teams.

2. Helps to steer development through data-driven decision making.

3. Focuses on outcome, not output by measuring delivered value.

4. You can achieve remarkable results when you’re engaged with a purpose. OKRs help communicate the bigger picture in a way everyone understands.

What makes good OKRs?

1. Effective OKRs detail the criteria that help communicate to your team if you’re successful or not in the actions that you decided to take together. That information helps your team understand if they need to course correct of change action. And that’s also the reason why OKRs are transparent or public, they end up being this very transparent communication tool that your entire team can rally behind.

2. A good objective, which has three qualities such as meaningful, which articulates a top priority and provides clear direction.
   audacious means it should be pushing your team to do what you thought wasn’t possible and inspiring which means it’s memorable and empowering for your team.

In just five minutes, I'll show you how to master this technique with a fun and informative Q&A session.

So, let's dive in and unleash our creativity!

Have you heard of HMW (How Might We) statements?

They're questions designed to spark ideas during brainstorming sessions.

Why use them?

To focus on creating solutions that address the needs and pain points of the people you're designing for.

What are the benefits?

They remind everyone involved of what matters most to customers and why.

How do you get started?

Gather a small group of 3-7 people and have a facilitator who understands what makes a good HMW statement. The facilitator should also have data on the target group and their needs.

If you’re a facilitator, it’d be helpful to spend some time to gather data that will help inform about your target group (i.e., customers/users) and their needs and pain points.

If the people in the room don’t have a solid understanding of what customers/users needs, business drivers etc., don’t proceed. Go get data to be better informed.

Here's a step-by-step approach to creating HMW statements:

1. Identify, discuss and write down:
what are your customers/users need?
What are their pain points?

2. Cluster needs and pain points across commonalities by giving a title to each cluster of needs and pain points.

3. Review your clusters and look for insights and patterns and write them down. Insights is the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a particular context.

4. Based on clustered data and insights, write down HMW statements as many as you can come up with.

For example,
“How might we redesign air travel?” is too broad.
“How might we reimagine aircraft seats?” can be too specific and limiting.
“How might we design joyful and stress-free flight experience for our customers while ensuring their safety while onboard our aircrafts?” is appropriate.

5. Now is the time to ask your working group to vote for the top 3–5 HMW statements to bring to your ideation session.

Here is an example of what HMW statement might look like: