SMART goals: A project management tool

Revision as of 14:25, 16 February 2021

by Ali Jamal Jomeh

Abstract

Setting goals and objectives is an important part of every organization, as they serve as a guide in terms of what they want to achieve, making them deeply inherent in project, program and portfolio management. Goals and objectives contribute to the successful development of a project’s different phases as well as the guidance of the project team’s operations towards achieving all the agreed upon goals within the scope, time, quality and budget standards. Evidently, an appropriate goal setting technique can help to successfully accomplish the above, which is where SMART goals enter the picture. The purpose of this article is to fully elaborate the idea behind the SMART goals, how to apply the technique, and the limitations of it.

SMART is an effective goal setting technique in which the acronym stands for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time bound. The difference between normal and SMART goals is that normal goals are simply what you aim to achieve, while SMART goals include finer details in the equation such as resources, deadlines and potential roadblocks along the way. These goals are to be formulated in regard to these five principles, where the idea is that every project goal must adhere to the SMART criteria in order to be effective. Therefore, a key element in the success of a project relies on setting SMART goals, as it is designed to provide structure and guidance throughout a project and can help answer how the project can contribute to the purpose based on relevant success criteria. If managers have nebulous, equivocal goals, the project will not end up as envisioned. Thus, the technique enables managers to clearly define and understand the purpose and goals of a project, program, or portfolio. Even though SMART is well-known and commonly used, it is rarely mentioned in the British or PMI standards. However, in the British standards, SMART is used as part of a quality criteria for a project brief in line with the PRINCE2 method. While this technique is applicable in almost any professional context, it is typically applied in project management in the planning phase of a project, as the project scope including objectives is defined here in accordance with the international standard ISO21500.

Introduction to goal setting theory

In the late 1960’s, Edwin Locke put forward the goal-setting theory of motivation. This theory states that goal setting is essentially linked to task performance, and that specific and challenging goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to higher and better performance. Furthermore, Locke’s research has shown that the more difficult and specific the goal is, the harder people tend to work. In one study, Locke found that, for 90 percent of the time, specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than easy or "do your best" goals. For instance, advising someone to "do your best" is less viable than saying "attempt to get more than 80% correct". Hard goals are more persuading than easy ones, since there is a greater sense of accomplishment involved when there has been put in a bigger effort.

A few years after Locke’s published article, Dr Gary Latham studied the effects of goal setting in the workplace. His results supported Locke’s findings – that there is an inseparable link between goal setting and workplace performance. According to Locke and Latham, there are five goal setting principles that can improve our chances of success: ^[1]

1. Clarity
2. Challenge
3. Commitment
4. Feedback
5. Task complexity

Since Locke's first findings, numerous techniques based on goal setting theory have been published including SMART goals which will be covered in the next section.

Framework for SMART goals

The main principles of SMART goals were introduced for the first time in 1981 in the published work “There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives” by George T. Doran.

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-bound

SMART goals in standards

Relate to standards, other methods etc. (FAST)

Application of SMART goals

...^[2]

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-bound

Limitations

Alternatives to SMART goals

SMARTER

FAST

Annotated bibliography

Bibliography

1. ↑ Locke, E. & Latham, G. (1990). A theory of goal setting & task performance. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
2. ↑ [https://www..com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm] How to Make Your Goals