[Verse 1] There's a story old as time in every company When the boss hires someone to work for you and me The principal's the one who owns the game The agent does the work but goals aren't quite the same Different information, different motivation Creates a gap that grows across the organization [Chorus] Principal-agent, that's the name When incentives don't align the same The boss wants profit, growth, and speed The worker has a different need Information gaps and mismatched goals That's how the principal-agent problem rolls [Verse 2] So someone smart invented OKRs Objectives clear as day, key results like stars Make the goals explicit, measurable and bright Surely this will fix our principal-agent fight But wait, there's something that we didn't see A new problem's born from this strategy [Chorus] Principal-agent, that's the name When incentives don't align the same The boss wants profit, growth, and speed The worker has a different need Information gaps and mismatched goals That's how the principal-agent problem rolls [Bridge] Now the CEO is writing down what engineering should do Acting like they know the code and all the challenges too They've got market data, board room expectations But not the daily grind of software implementations Different information doesn't mean it's better information That's the trap that's caught so many across the nation [Verse 3] The VP of Engineering knows the technical debt The bugs that keep them up, the deadlines hard to met But CEO sees customers and quarterly reports Two different worlds with two different sorts Of knowledge and priorities, both important and true But OKRs pretend that one perspective will do [Chorus] Principal-agent, that's the name When incentives don't align the same The boss wants profit, growth, and speed The worker has a different need Information gaps and mismatched goals That's how the principal-agent problem rolls [Outro] So remember when you set those goals so clear Both sides have wisdom that the other needs to hear Principal-agent, learn it well It's got more stories yet to tell
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