FAST Goals

Unfinished work of s164345 FMC

Creating a plan is pivotal for the success of any project and the management of said project. Key to any plan is goals: Objectives, milestones, or deliverables. Whatever shape the goal takes, without goals a plan is imperfect. Correct utilization of goals is therefore critical for project and project management success. Setting the wrong goals will waste valuable resources, setting the goals too low will result in lower quality outcomes and failure to communicate the goals adequately will leave those within the project without direction. Ensuring high quality of the goals and correct utilization within the project is therefore a skill that project managers must master to save time and resources. FAST goals is a framework created to help those setting and managing goals by ensuring the quality of their goals through the acronym 'FAST': Frequently talked about, Ambitious, Specific, and Transparent.

FAST goals as a tool within project management is not a new version of the SMART goals, it is instead a reorientation to the way practitioners approach goals. Based on research and industry success the FAST goals attempt to summarize how goals as a whole should be approached and utilized, modernizing goal setting through the inclusion of more agile practices and a focus on the surrounding environment . This article will further explain the meaning and qualities of each of the four letters in FAST, compare it to the similar methodology of SMART goals, as well as exploring the limitations of the FAST goals within project management. This article aims to provide information on the strengths and limitations of the FAST goals, how and when to apply them so that project managers can extract the most value of the methodology.

Big idea

A visual reprensentation of the core tenants of the FAST goals. Own creation.

In the PMBOK guide, the purpose of a project is defined as such "Projects are undertaken to fulfill objectives by producing deliverables." Intrinsically linked to the purpose of the project, the reasoning for why it has been undertaken, is the intended outcome of the project. The objective, or goal. A project is not a project without something which it tries to achieve. The overarching goal of the project is one of many smaller goals which combine to be the project plan, depending on the complexity of the project these goals can be divided further over and over again until the goals reach a manageable size. Goals permeate the very nature of projects with entire management styles revolving around the creation and execution of goals . The importance of goals within project management is therefore critical. Not only are goals abundant in project management, but correct utilization of goals can also bring benefits such as higher motivation , higher performance, and work satisfaction, etc. Poor utilization of goals negatively influence the planning, poor planning then is associated less chance of success of reaching goals ., waste of resource, reduction in quality and frustration .

It should therefore come naturally to all project managers to strive for setting goals of high quality. However, what is a goal of high quality? The PRINCE2 project management guide suggests that project objectives should adhere to the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals framework . The SMART goals framework dates back to 1981 , and depending on the source each letter of the acronym can take a new meaning. Some even suggest an updated version of the acronym to SMARTER (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound, Efficacy, Rewarding) , again the newly included latter two letters take on new meaning dependent on the source.

In 2018 an article called: With Goals, FAST Beats SMART was published, bringing attention to a trend which the authors had observed. Donald Sull and Charles Sull describe how people have become too focused on the act of setting goals, and not enough attention is being given to how goals are used. Additional shortcomings of the common goal-setting practice of using the SMART goals methodology such as neglecting ambition are addressed alongside this. Proposed in this article is the 'FAST': (Frequently talked about, Ambitious, Specific and Transparent) goals, a new goal-setting methodology with the aim of reorienting how goals are perceived and worked with. The general idea being that high-quality goals are not enough, the way that practitioners work with them has to be high-performing as well to derive the full potential of the goals. The purpose of the FAST goals is thusly aiding in both the setting of high-quality goals and facilitating the environment surrounding the goals, which allows for high-performance utilizing the goals.

FAST goals

At first glance, the FAST goals seem similar to the SMART goals. Both are acronym words representing a set of core tenets to keep in mind when working with goals. This is to be expected as the FAST goals are designed to be a successor to the SMART goals, building on the learnings of the shortcomings of SMART goals and creating a better methodology . In the article pioneering the FAST goals, it is described how high performing companies and their goal-setting methodologies have been researched and the findings are distilled into the FAST goals framework . The core criticism which the creators of the FAST goals aim at the SMART goals is that SMART goals focuses too much on the performance of the individual, underutilize ambition, and fail to take into account the benefits of transparency and discussion around goals . Particularly the latter two points separate the FAST and the SMART goals by changing the focus from the immediate goal-setting towards ongoing goal utilization. To understand how the creators of FAST goals have attempted to refine the SMART goals through bettering these criticisms the following sections will go through the four letters of the acronym FAST and elaborate on how they contribute to better goal setting and utilization.

A representation of the definition and benefits of the first tenant of FAST goals. Own creation based on .

Frequently talked about

The first letter of the acronym F is perhaps the one that differentiates itself the most from the SMART goals. Frequently talked about is quite wordy and can be hard to remember or even understand at first glance, understanding it is however key to understanding the FAST goals. The definition of Frequently talked about coined by D. Sull and C. Sull is:

"Goals should be embedded in ongoing discussions to review progress, allocate resources, prioritize initiatives, and provide feedback. "

Two particular things in this definition are important. The first of which is the word frequent. For many, the standard practice is to set goals and forget about them for upwards of a year before reviewing them . To make goals FAST it is a necessity to frequently review your goals. The second thing of importance in the definition is that what frequently needs to be discussed is not merely progress. Instead, it is several factors that relate to the goal. The focus on feedback, resource allocation, and prioritization shifts the focus from the one-track approach of setting a goal and measuring whether or not it is reached. A FAST goal is therefore not the same from its conception to its end, it can adapt and change as the environment around it does. FAST goals take the typically predictive approach to goal setting and change it to be an adaptive approach . Adaptive approaches also go by agile approaches, which is fitting as the final part of the Agile Manifesto goes as follows “Responding to change over following a plan” . FAST goals are thusly a more agile methodology, but this does not however exclude anyone not utilizing agile methodology from using them.

A representation of the definition and benefits of the second tenant of FAST goals. Own creation based on .

Ambitious

The second letter of FAST, defined as "Objectives should be difficult but not impossible to achieve" . Ambitious revolves around both the psychology behind motivation and increasing performance. Several studies link ambitious goal setting to employee motivation , the PMBOK guide even puts one of the project managers' responsibilities in terms of managing teams to be providing challenging goals . In regards to increasing performance, a simple way to look at it is, if your goals only strive for okay then excellence will never be achieved. This is further exemplified in the book Measure What Matters where John Doerr establishes the importance of setting ambitious goals in order to perform higher . The same study which linked ambitious goals to motivation also links ambitious goals to high performance. With ambitious goals comes the risk of not meeting goals. To facilitate aiming high and creating ambitious goals, it must be accepted not to reach them. With what has been presented it might seem fitting to create goals that are ambitious to the point of impossibility, however, the reverse effect of ambitious goals, lack of motivation, and low performance, has been linked to impossible goals . The challenge for project managers then becomes to create goals that are ambitious enough, yet not as much as to be impossible. There are exceptions to this as in some projects there are goals which much be reached, but for the rest the benefits of setting ambitious goals are plenty.

A representation of the definition and benefits of the third tenant of FAST goals. Own creation based on .

Specific

The third letter of FAST, Specific, is defined as: “Goals are translated into concrete metrics and milestones that force clarity on how to achieve each goal and measure progress.”. Those familiar with SMART goals will notice that this is similar if not identical to their understanding of the S in SMART, and to some extent, the M. Throughout the years since SMART goals first appeared the importance of goals being specific seems to remain unchanged. Both the PMBOK guide and PRINCE2 references the need for specificity in planning and in general throughout project management " . Specific goals are linked to increased motivation and performance , and other methodologies different from FAST and SMART include the need for specificity and measurability as a requirement for goal setting . FAST goals encourages you to continue to set specific goals or begin if you have yet to.

A representation of the definition and benefits of the fourth tenant of FAST goals. Own creation based on .

Transparent

The final letter of FAST, Transparent, is defined as: "Goals and current performance should be made public for all employees to see." Much like the first letter of the acronym, this too might be a bit hard to understand at first but is tremendously important. Similarly, it also diverges from the pure goal-setting focus of SMART goals in favor of suggesting an alternative approach to utilizing goals as a whole. Creating transparent goals is not about understanding the goal or the meaning behind it, it is instead how it is treated which has to be transparent. Doing transparency right however is indicated to have a wealth of benefits such as better strategic alignment, improved motivation, and becoming more attractive to high-performing workers. These are some of the same benefits highlighted by C. Sull and D. Sull as the reasoning for the inclusion of transparency as a part of the FAST goals.

Comparison to SMART goals

Despite their apparent similarities of the two methodologies, FAST goals separate themselves rather drastically from SMART goals. While the SMART goals serve as a checklist of things to keep in mind when creating goals, FAST goals focus both on goal setting and on creating a better surrounding environment for goals. Noticeably SMART and FAST share many similarities such as both emphasizing specificity. Furthermore as was discussed in the section about ambition, attainability is still key to extracting the benefits of ambition, too much of either leads to worse results. The reason why FAST goals focus on ambition over attainability is historically ambition has been neglected within goal setting.

In terms of goal setting FAST goals reprioritizes what is important, but do not stray far from SMART goals. The real difference between the two methodologies comes from the more agile approach of FAST goals and the splitting of the focus from goal setting to both goal setting and goal utilization. FAST goals should therefore not be thought of as a direct replacement to SMART goals, FAST goals are not just four new letters to remember which are more important than those in SMART. Instead, FAST goals should be thought of as a new perspective, a new approach to goals within projects. There are drastic changes needed for a project to have FAST goals as opposed to SMART goals, but for many, this approach has proved tremendously successful .

Application

As a rather new methodology, appearing first in 2018, very little evidence is publically available to chronicle the application of the FAST goals. The authors of the FAST goals however highlight the methodology of OKR (Objectives - Key Results) as being in accordance with the FAST goals. To describe the application of FAST goals much of the basis will be taken in the application of the parts of OKR methodology which relate to the FAST goals. For a better understanding of what OKRs are I suggest the book Measure What Matters by John Doerr of which much of this section will be based on. To begin explaining the application of FAST goals through the application of OKRs the following quote from the aforementioned book gives perspective.

OKRs have such enormous potential because they are so adaptable. There is no dogma, no one right way to use them. Different organizations have fluctuating needs at various phases of their life cycle. For some, the simple act of making goals open and transparent is a big leap forward. For others, a quarterly planning cadence will change the game. It’s up to you to find your points of emphasis and to make the tool your own.

The unfortunate reality is that there is no one right way to do it, no one size fits all solution. As emphasized in the quote different projects will have different needs at different times. Different changes will have different impacts and so on. There is therefore no guide on how to apply OKRs or FAST goals to all projects. Following are some ideas for application inspired by the book Measure What Matters.

• Ease into the process

For many applying FAST goal methodology will be a disruptive change to the status quo. It is, therefore, advisable to ease into the process. For this applying the methodology at the top and working downwards has shown to be effective.

• Make goals public

Ensure that everyone at any time has easy access to goals, not just their own goals but also others, especially strategic goals.

• Frequent check-ins

Frequently checking in on progress allows for goals to be changed to reorient, or be abandoned before resources are wasted.

• Initiate a culture change

To be transparent, open in your frequent discussions, and ambitious in your goals, it might be necessary to undergo a culture change. It has been shown to be effective to have top management set a good example for this.

Keeping these things in mind might and understanding the core tenants of FAST goals will help you introduce these to your project.

Limitations

The FAST goals have been created with the modern-day in mind, and where many projects and organizations have become far more adaptive to change there are still sectors where attempting to apply the FAST goals would simply be an addition of costs with little benefit. Furthermore, the FAST goals are a new methodology, and extensive research has yet to be given to them. Little research has been done on the application or the realization of the benefits from FAST, it therefore might be difficult or risky to attempt to apply this methodology. Furthermore the FAST goals themselves, ironically enough, is quite unspecific. It might be easy to get lost without a more specific guide for application. The correct way to enable transparency and frequently talking about goals is different from project to project, and it therefore relies on the project manager to adapt these tenants of the FAST goals to the individual project. This is a limitation for newcomers with little reference material to attempt to learn or adapt from.

Annotated bibliography

A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) - A comprehensive overview, which covers best practices for correct management of most projects. The PMBOK guide goes through the many steps of managing a project in order to present an outline of correct project management practices. Relevant to the FAST goals the PMBOK guide explains a plethora of project management activities such as the creation of Project Scope Management, Project Schedule management etc. These activities show the necessity of proper goal creation in order for project and project management success to be achieved, as goal creation is featured prominently in this work of best practices.

Measure What Matters - A book describing the OKR methodology which goes into great detail talking about benefits, real life success stories and more. It serves as a broad introduction to the methodology, which also provides a lot of background on how it came to be. Seeing as FAST goals are quite related to the OKR methodology this is a great entry point for any interest in one or both of the two. It also provides interesting real life experiences and insight from some of the biggest companies like Google.

With Goals, FAST Beats SMART - The article introducing FAST goals. This is the maiden work related to the FAST goals, introducing the reasoning behind the creation of the methodology, the research which led to the FAST goals as well as the meaning behind each of the four letters of the acronym in great detail. Additionally this article presents the FAST goals as a superior to the SMART goals, seeing it as an evolution of the concept of SMART goals more fit for modern day project management. This article includes many real life examples of aspects of the FAST goals in practice in high performing companies.