Employees
AI-assisted data operations
Location: London, UK
Company Overview
Quantumics AI mainly automates the work of IT and data engineers. It lets you quickly profile, cleanse, engineer, automate, and govern your data for analytics and takeaways.
You can add data to the software from files or relevant applications like Salesforce and Hubspot to get useful data insights.
In the company, while the founder always had the vision in mind, the team did not have a clear set of goals and was managing work without a structure.
And recently, while convinced about using the OKR framework, they struggled to create and cascade them to the teams.
This is when JOP approached them and guided them to put their goal-setting in order with a platform and step-by-step consultation.
Key goals Quantumics AI was trying to achieve before JOP
Quantumics AI is a startup, and like many other SaaS startups, they have these crucial goals to take off and be a sustainable business.
1. Enable non-technical users to become citizen data engineers
A major goal for Quantumics AI was to allow non-technical employees to take on data engineering tasks, like cleaning and transforming data, without coding. This would let employees throughout the business become “citizen data engineers” and be more self-sufficient with data instead of relying on IT and engineering teams.
2. Provide a no-code alternative to SQL
Quantumics wanted to remove the need for SQL programming by providing a conversational, no-code alternative. Allowing users to “speak” to data in plain language lowers the barriers to working with data and deriving insights.
3. Raise Venture Capital funding
Securing VC funding was essential to scale up the business quickly. VC investment would provide capital to accelerate product development and expand the user base.
4. Achieve Product-Market Fit and grow users
Achieving strong product-market fit was a priority to validate that the platform solves real user needs. Indicators of PMF include more users, high customer retention, referral rates, and willingness to pay.
It also generates revenue growth and data to improve the product. Growing the user base is key for any SaaS company.
Challenges they were trying to tackle
1. Poor alignment to mission and execution plan
Without proper alignment, teams worked on disparate goals and did not progress toward the core mission. This caused wasted effort and frustration and slowed the achievement of strategic objectives. Quantumics needed a way to align the team with top-level goals to ensure everyone was rowing in the same direction.
2. Unstructured goal-setting and performance tracking
With no system to manage objectives and track progress, Quantumics struggled to gauge performance and achievement. Goals were being set case-by-case with no unified process. They lacked data to inform good decision-making and course corrections. This led to confusion around expectations and priorities.
3. Underdeveloped feedback culture
Without robust mechanisms and a basis for giving feedback, problems went unaddressed until they caused major issues.
4. Unfamiliarity and resistance to OKRs
After understanding OKRs from JOP, Quantumics faced some familiar challenges with them. Unfamiliarity with OKRs led to low motivation and resistance to OKRs. They worried it would become an administrative burden versus a useful priority-setting tool.
With no experience using OKRs, they found it difficult to translate high-level strategic objectives into tangible goals for their unit.
How did JOP’s services help Quantumics overcome its challenges?
JOP began collaborative exercises with Quantumics AI’s top leaders to understand the above problems more deeply.
They understood where the roadblocks to these challenges were so that they could assign specific priorities and goals to relevant individuals.
Moreover, JOP began training and consulting the leaders to create meaningful OKRs and implement the related best practices.
1. Strategic planning workshops to define top company OKRs
JOP’s team of OKR and Strategy Execution Consultants held a month-long “OKR Starter Program” workshop with Quantumics’ leadership team to identify the company’s top objectives for the next quarter and guide the team to implement OKRs effectively.
With JOP Experts’ help, the executives narrowed the priorities and crafted focused company-level KRs like “Increase engaged monthly active users from A to B by the next Quarter” to support the core goal of achieving a PMF (Product Market Fit).
The workshop enabled thoughtful debate and buy-in across Quantumics’ executives on the 3-5 most important objectives. JOP’s facilitators helped the leaders map the execution plan to execute each OKR, including owners, key results, and success measures.
2. Creating and aligning OKRs across the organization
With the top company OKRs set, JOP’s OKR Consultants collaborated with the HR team and enabled them to cascade those goals down into team and individual OKRs.
JOP provided training on effectively translating strategy into executable objectives and creating OKRs by allowing the team members to develop OKRs and align them with the company objectives.
For example, the product team linked the company’s OKR on active users to their OKRs around reducing code errors. Marketing created supporting OKRs to promote the features.
This process created alignment across Quantumics’ 15+ employees (In-office and remote) while allowing autonomy for teams to define how they would contribute to the company’s top objectives. JOP guided the initial rollout and helped assign OKR owners across the business.
3. Training HR team to become OKR Champions
To make the OKR framework sustainable in their organization, JOP’s Expert identified OKR Champions from the Quantumics’ HR team to make them internal OKR experts. These Champions learned OKR fundamentals and best practices through weekly coaching calls and training resources.
The HR reps partnered with department heads to assign OKR owners across all teams. They monitored adoption through one-on-one meetings.
After the program, HR was equipped to continue evangelizing OKRs, providing support, and tracking results. They became Quantumics’ dedicated OKR champions, empowered to drive the framework across the business.
4. Quarterly OKR Retrospectives with JOP
At the end of each quarter, JOP facilitated workshops to review Quantumics’ OKR implementation and identify process improvements. The sessions gathered insights from managers and the OKR Champions on what worked well versus areas for refinement.
The retrospectives helped Quantumics improve its OKR process, such as increased focus on drafting measurable key results. They also enabled adjustments to company strategy based on learnings.
These quarterly working sessions cultivated buy-in by giving teams visibility into how their OKRs aligned with company objectives and empowered them to work collaboratively on these goals.
Results Quantumics has seen after implementing JOP’s services
1. Enhanced line of sight from work to company missions
With JOP’s help aligning everyone with the top-level goals throughout the organization, Quantumics’ teams gained a clearer line of sight from their day-to-day work to the company’s core mission.
Engineering teams could see how their objectives to ship key features mapped directly to moving top-level OKRs on customer acquisition and revenue growth.
By aligning around common OKRs, the team achieved tighter strategic alignment. Individuals understood how their contributions laddered up into the company’s most important goals. This unified teams around shared objectives versus working in silos.
2. More objective Performance Management
Using OKRs and key results enabled more objective evaluations of performance across teams—progress toward quarterly goals provided clear indicators of achievement versus more subjective assessments.
Managers could point to key result completion rates and objective progress to base performance conversations on tangible data. For example, asking the marketing team what roadblocks they are facing in achieving more qualified leads.
Tying evaluations and discussions to OKR progress also reinforced focus and priorities. Individuals were motivated to advance key objectives, knowing their work was being measured against those goals.
3. Unified OKR management and collaboration
Using JOP’s platform, the company centralized OKR management and collaboration in one online platform. Teams could monitor alignment with OKRs, provide feedback, and recognize peers toward shared objectives.
The increased transparency kept everyone on the same page. Managers could identify dependencies between teams and course corrections in real time if OKRs went off track. Public OKRs enhanced accountability across the organization.
JOP’s OKR Experts also mentored the team to use constructive and appreciative feedback on the platform. This especially helped to engage the remote team members.
4. Sustained support through OKR Champions
The trained HR OKR champions were critical to sustain momentum after JOP’s initial launch. They continue promoting OKRs, providing support, and tracking results across the business.
Complementing the internal champions, JOP’s experts facilitate quarterly retrospectives to analyze what’s working and identify improvements to keep OKR adoption on track. The outside perspective helps Quantumics benchmark against effective implementations.
This layered internal and external support ensures the OKR program remains a living, dynamic framework that evolves with the business.
CHALLENGEs
Poor alignment to company missions
Unstructured goal-setting and performance-tracking
Underdeveloped feedback culture
Limited OKR knowledge and reluctance
ADDRESSING CHALLENGES WITH JOP
Strategic planning and OKR workshops
Aligning OKRs across the organization
Training OKR champions
Quarterly OKR retrospectives
RESULTS
Team alignment with the company missions
More objective Performance Management
Streamlined OKR management and teamwork
Sustained support through OKR Champions