SMART Goals

SMART goals are goals which are

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Project management often involves the setting of goals.   Some goals, however, are much more effective in eliciting the behaviour you want than others. The SMART mnemonic helps project managers (or any manager) to specify goals which will result in the behaviour they want.

The problem with some goals is that they are ambiguous; different people will interpret them different ways.   When a gaol is ambiguous the manager will inevitably interpret it in a way which suites their needs and the staff member will equally inevitably interpret it in a way which suits theirs.   Examples of such goals are:-

'Be a good programmer.'
'Improve my efficiency.'
etc...

What does 'good' mean?  How much 'improvement' are we talking about? Efficiency in what area?  These things sound laudable but there is too much wiggle room. The project manager is going to end up feeling the staff member did not do enough and the staff member is going to end up thinking the manager can never be satisfied.

SMART goals allow staff member and manager to have a much closer understanding of what is intended because they are unambiguous.

Specific

This is a general test.  Although it appears at the start of the mnemonic it is best applied at the end.  If a goal meets the other SMART criteria it will probably be specific by definition.  Never the less it is worth considering how specific the final result is in case some thing slips through.  It is generally said that in order to be specific a goal must answer the 5 Ws

What is to be achieved?
Who is involved/affected?
Why is the goal beneficial?
Where is the goal to be achieved?
When is the goal to be achieved by?

Measurable

The goal should specify what metric will be measured to decide if the goal has been achieved and what value represents success.   This is the most important concept of SMART goals.  It simplifies everything for the person being set the goal.  Unfortunately it is often difficult to identify suitable measurable metrics.  It is not co-incidence, however, that many project management concepts result in numerical measures of success.  Deliverables, earned value, issue logs; these and other similar concepts can be used to create measurable goals.  It could be said, in fact,  that a large proportion of project management behaviour deals with the identification of measurable goals.

Attainable

It seems self evident that a goal should be attainable but it is worth briefly checking that this is so.  Sometimes project managers are tempted to set goals which they do not believe can be achieved in an attempt to extract every last erg of effort from staff.  Aside from the questionable ethics of this practice is usually ineffective even in the short term as people will not strive for the unattainable.  Instead they will relax because they believe their effort can not effect the outcome.

Realistic

Attainability must be realistic as well theoretical.    

Timely

This is another valuable criteria that is often omitted.  On a long enough time frame almost anything can be achieved.    Without a time frame no goal can truly be said to have been missed.  By specifying when you want the goal to be achieved you resolve a major ambiguity.  Unless explicitly defined, managers always mean as soon as possible and staff always mean whenever convenient.