Lear Set Smart Goal For project execution

Project management skills, the type that support the effective and excellent delegation of work to members, usually involve the execution of project/assignment. After all, management is the process of getting work done through others. So, when making a decision on how prepared the team is to carry out the job successfully, an important question to ask, to which an affirmative answer must be provided is: “Have we defined crystal clear, detailed, and measurable objectives and goals for our project?”

 

Today, it is no longer enough to just complete projects on time and on budget. It is not affordable to waste precious time and money on projects that fail to deliver measurable benefits. In these difficult economic times it’s more important than ever to deliver expected benefits, ensure organizational readiness, stakeholder engagement and solution adoption. Easily said, of course, but hard to do in practice because there is often no process or expertise in place to make it happen.

The way to ensure consistent delivery of high benefits during the phase of executing a project, lies in the strategic planning of the processes involved in carrying out the project. The best way to do this is by defining the project objectives and SMART Goals.

SMART Goals setting refers to specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound goals setting. They play a crucial role in communicating company priorities, reducing ambiguity and focusing all levels of an organization on what really matters. SMART Goals are critical to clearly communicate expectations, plan strategies, measure performance and achieve desired results.

Each letter of the acronym is further defined below.

Specific: This refers to a clear and unambiguous definition of what will be done and the desired outcome.

Measurable: This means measuring and evaluating the products of the project objectively. It can be done using time, quality, cost or productivity data measured during the course of the project.

Attainable: Objectives set are always challenging but attainable.

Relevant: In other words, this means making sure the goals of the project are in line with the vision of the company. It exists to directly impact the achievement of the goal and helps make sure that the outcome will have a significant positive impact to the company.

Timely: Each objective has a time element attached to it. Projects are expected to be completed by specified dates and times and often metrics are used to track the rate of progress of the project.

In essence, SMART Goals focus on a company’s mission and desired outcomes of the project. They provide the basis for developing strategies, a set of logical reasons for tactical planning and the criteria for making objective decisions or SMART choices among all projects. SMART Goals backed by a strong project management process will undoubtedly ensure that every project undertaken by a company is a success. It includes success metrics to demonstrate how it will measurably impact and contribute to achieving one or more of the company’s SMART Goals.

With SMART goals set, projects that fail to clearly link to a strategic goal or show how they can advance the aims of the company can be easily put to an end before wasting more time and resources. Hence, setting SMART goals is a very important aspect of project execution that every organization embarking on a project must put in place.