Waymo: one plan, six functions

Context

Planning lived in silos. Leaders argued over conflicting numbers in meetings that rarely left one shared set of facts.

Constraints

• Safety and regulatory work had to stay first-class in every plan
• Six functions needed shared targets without private scorekeeping
• Senior time was burning on one-off decks

Decisions

• Set one rhythm for OKRs, resources, QBRs, and dashboards
• Move tradeoffs into scheduled reviews instead of private escalations
• Publish dashboards covering performance, vehicle health, and milestones

Outcome

Plans finally shared one calendar and one set of numbers. Escalations moved into scheduled reviews, and one-off reporting requests dropped.

My role

• Facilitated planning and QBR cycles for Engineering Operations
• Built the scoreboard leadership used instead of ad-hoc pulls
• Aligned targets and resources across functions

Team

• Engineering Operations partners who ran the cadence
• Function leads accountable for their slice of the plan
• Senior leaders who consumed the shared scoreboard