How Skyflow uses Benioff's V2MOM to align

Explore

How Skyflow uses Benioff's V2MOM to align
How Skyflow uses Benioff's V2MOM to align

A toolkit adapted from Salesforce's framework to achieve ambitious goals.

A toolkit adapted from Salesforce's framework to achieve ambitious goals.

Anshu Sharma

Rajsi Rana

From 2008 to 2013, I was part of a world class team that dreamt big. Together, we transformed the early concept of the Salesforce platform into the #1 Enterprise SaaS platform—a feat that resulted in hundreds of millions in revenue and provided many billion dollar startups with foundations for their own success.

One important principle that made this team’s dream a reality was alignment. To achieve and maintain team alignment we used a tool called V2MOM—one that I continue to use today with my teams at

Skyflow⁠

as we push for a radically sensible approach to data privacy. Over time, I adapted V2MOM to fit the needs of our startup, including a V-shaped process with four working phases. (For those here who are not familiar with V2MOM, it’s a variation of the much more popular OKR.)

I’ve turned our V2MOM process into a tool—this Coda doc—to make it easy for you to implement V2MOM at your own company. Copy the doc below, then read on to learn what makes the V2MOM process so special.

⁠

Copy this doc

⁠

What is V2MOM?

V2MOM is an acronym for Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures. Originally developed by Salesforce co-founder and CEO

Marc Benioff⁠

and inspired by

Tony Robbins⁠

, V2MOM is essentially a goal-setting framework used to align the entire company.

Each variable in the V2MOM is associated with a set of questions that help clarify and communicate strategic plans. For example, here’s a set of questions that

Marc typically asks⁠

to initiate ideation around where Salesforce should be going and how they can work backward to get there:

Vision — what do you want to achieve? (Objective)

Values — what’s important to you?

Methods — how do you get it? (Key Results)

Obstacles — what is preventing you from being successful?

Measures — how do you know you have it?

For example, here’s Salesforce’s first V2MOM from 1999:

⁠

And here’s Skyflow’s latest V2MOM:

⁠

⁠

Marc also has a great set of tweets that explains each V2MOM question (expand to read tweets).

⁠

While I pose similar questions to my team, I’ve adapted the original V2MOM framework to fit the needs of Skyflow’s team.

Aligning a company: How Skyflow runs a v-shaped V2MOM process

We intentionally work to align the entire company through a v-shaped process. We’ve found that a four-phased approach works for our team and allows for both top-down and bottom-up cycles of feedback.

⁠

Skyflow V2MOM Coda Doc - Frame 1 (3) 1.png

⁠

Phase 1: Retrospective

Entire company

Skyflow’s V2MOM process starts with everyone in the company running

Retrospectives⁠

on last quarter’s measures. Each measure is graded as Red, Yellow, or Green.

Phase 2: CEO + company draft

Executives (top down)

I then draft a new company V2MOM for this quarter and gather feedback from the executive team at an offsite. Once the draft is complete, we share it with the rest of the company.

Phase 3: Teams + individuals

Teams and individuals (bottom up)

Once the company V2MOM is shared, each team and individual creates their own respective V2MOM. The new V2MOMs are reviewed by team leads and submitted to the executive team.

Phase 4: Company wrap-up

Executives (top down)

In phase four, the executives review the individual and team V2MOMs and adjust the company-wide V2MOM if necessary. Once the company V2MOM is finalized, I do 3 things as CEO:

Present it at an all-hands meeting.

Share it with the board.

Add it to the

All V2MOMs⁠

table to be tracked with the rest of the V2MOMs

⁠

A tool to bring everyone’s V2MOMs together

The rest of this doc is a wholistic system that tracks all the V2MOMs across your company. Here’s how it is organized:

⁠
`V2MOM hub`⁠
⁠

This is the central repository for all the V2MOMs. I’ve also included

Personal⁠

Company⁠

, and

Teams⁠

pages to help you easily locate a specific V2MOM.

⁠
`Dashboard`⁠
⁠

This self-updating dashboard gives everyone on your team a birds-eye view of the health and completion of V2MOMs, including measure grades.

⁠
`V2MOM Schedule`⁠
⁠

Finally, this page keeps everyone on the same planning timeline. Each of the 4 planning phases are shown on a calendar so that the V2MOM submission process runs smoothly.

By bringing all the V2MOMs in a single place, this doc encourages alignment, growth, and efficiency across the team:

Alignment

Track the entire company’s V2MOM’s in one place. No more duct tape between siloed spreadsheets. This connects individuals with the company and short-term measures with long-term visions.

Growth

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Systematically improve individual and company progress with the quarterly retrospective ritual. Then, visualize changes over time with self-updating charts and metrics.

Efficiency

A self-updating presentation. No more copy/paste into PowerPoint every quarter. This doc enables you to spend less time talking about goals, and more time achieving them.

If you would like to try this technique and need help implementing it, the Coda team has graciously offered to help. Click this button to get assistance:

⁠

Connect with a Rituals Architect

⁠

Ready to get started? Head to
`V2MOM hub`⁠
⁠

Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.

Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (

CtrlP

) instead.

How Skyflow uses Benioff's V2MOM to alignHow Skyflow uses Benioff's V2MOM to align