FAST Goals

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Abstract

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 within the project is therefore a skill that project managers must master in order 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 guarantee for success on it's own, but incorporating the four pillars of FAST into the many aspects of project management can heigthen the chance of project and project management success. Having high quality goals by itself does help solidify the purpose of a project, but in conjuction with other project management tools the real value of FAST becomes apparent. Tools such as Gannt charts and Work Breakdown Structure synergizes with FAST goals as drivers to reach the goals in a more effective and efficient manner. 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. The aim of this article is 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

In the PMBOK guide the purpose of a project is defined as such "Projects are undertaken to fulfill objectives by producing deliverables." [1] 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 combines 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 [2]. The importance of goals within project management is therefore critical. Not only are goals abundant in project management, correct utilization of goals can bring benefits such as higher motivation [3], higher performance and work satisfaction[4] etc. Poor utilization of goals negatively influence the planning, poor planning then is associated less chance of success of reaching goals [5]., waste of resource, reduction in quality and frustration [6] .


It should therefore come natural 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 [6]. The SMART goals framework date back to 1981 [7], 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, Effecacy, Rewarding) [8], 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 is 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. [9]

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 is designed to be a successor to the SMART goals, building on the learnings of the shortcomings of SMART goals and creating a better methodology [9]. In the article pioneering the FAST goals it is described how high performing companies and their goal setting methodologies has been researched and the findings are distilled into FAST goals framework [9]. The core criticism which the creators of the FAST goals aim at the SMART goals is that SMART goals focuses too much on performance of the individual, underutilize ambition and fails to take into account the benefits of transparency and discussion around goals [9]. 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 criticism 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.

Frequently talked about

The first letter of the acronym F is perhaps the one which 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. "[9]

Two particular things in this definition is important. The first of which is the word frequent. For many the standard practice is to set goals and forget about for upwards of a year before reviewing them [9]. 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 the progress. Instead it is several factors which relates to the goal. The focus on feedback, resource allocation and prioritization shifts the focus from 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 takes the typically predictive approach to goal setting and changes it to be an adaptive approach [1]. 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” [10] . FAST goals are thusly a more agile methodology, but this does not however exclude anyone not utilizing agile methodology from using them.

Ambitious

The second letter of FAST, defined in [9] 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 [4] [3] [9], the PMBOK guide even puts one of the project managers responsibilities in terms of managing teams to be providing challenging goals [11]. 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 [12]. The same study which linked ambitious goals to motivation also links ambitious goals to high performance.[4] With ambitious goals comes the risk of not meeting goals, like with Frequentlly talked about this too is a change in thinking for some. In order to aim high and create ambitious goals, it must be accepted not to reach them. It comes at the risk of setting the goals too high, which the definition of Ambitious in fast warns against. With what has been presented it might seem fitting to create goals which are ambitious to the point of impossebility, however the reverse effect of ambitious goals, lack of motivation and low performance, has been linked to impossible goals[3] [9]. The challenge for project managers then becomes to create goals which 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 as shown.

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.”[9]. 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 "[1] [9]. Specific goals are linked to increased motivation and performance [3] [9], and other methodologies different from FAST and SMART include the need for specificity and measurability as requirement for goal setting [13] [14]. FAST goals therefore encourages you to continue to set specific goals, or begin if you have yet to.

Transparent

The final letter of FAST, Transparent, is defined as: "Goals and current performance should be made public for all employees to see."[9] Much like the first letter of the acronym, this too might be a bit hard to understand at first. Similarly it also diverges from the blueprint like nature of SMART goals in favor of suggesting an alternative approach to goals as a whole within projects. 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. [15] [16] These are some of the same benefits highlighted in [9] as the reasoning for the inclusion of transparent as a part of the FAST goals.

Comparison to SMART goals

Despite their apparent similarities if judging purely from the name of the two methodologies, FAST goals seperates themselves rather drastically from SMART goals in ways which has been ellaborated upon earlier. While the SMART goals serves as a checklist of things to keep in mind when creating goals, FAST goals focuses more on creating a better goal-setting environment. In fact two of the four letters of FAST has little to do with the action of goal-setting, but instead revolve around creating an environment where the set goals can perform better. Of the remaining two, the S in FAST and in SMART is exactly the same, while the A in FAST stands to contrast the A in SMART. FAST argues for ambition, SMART emphasizes attainability. 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.


It therefore might make more sense to think of FAST goals as less of a direct replacement to SMART goals in terms of immediate goal setting, and more of an additional consideration. Outside of the action of goal setting the FAST goals carry other meanings, however these are poorly suited to compare against the SMART goals which are purely focused on the action of goal setting. Thinking of FAST goals and SMART goals as two rival methodologies would thusly be wrong, instead the two argue for mostly the same values in terms of goal setting, while their differences emphasize the balance between ambition and attainability.

Application

As a rather new methodology, appearing first in 2018, very little evidence is publically available to chronicle the application of the FAST goals. Furthermore the work proposing the FAST goals does not go into detail on the specifics of application. The following segment is therefore an attempt to convert the sentiments of the FAST goals into something concrete and applicable. In this article the application of the FAST goals will be split into two segments, goal setting application and (strategic? Structural?)organizational application. The goal setting application segment will focus on how to apply the FAST goals in terms the action of goal setting, while the organizational application will focus on the necessary structures surrounding the goals in order for them to be FAST.

Goal setting application

The goal setting methodology part of the FAST goals is split between the two letters A and S. The following segment will discuss the application of each of the two. Specific: As mentioned this part of the FAST goals is borrowed from the SMART goals, as such this segment will borrow the approach used in SMART goals. SMART goals tasks the user with answering a series of questions when creating a goal in order to assure that the goal set fits with the methodology. These questions can be used to the same effect when utilizing FAST goals. As was discussed earlier the S in FAST can be seen as a combination of the S and M in SMART goals, and as such the questions one should be able to answer when setting a goal is as follows:

What do I want to accomplish? Why is this goal important? Who is involved? Where is it located? Which resources or limits are involved? How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

In the article about FAST goals the issue of quantifiability is mentioned as something to take into account when setting goals [9]. A goal not being easily quantifiable is not necessarily a measure of a goal being bad. For some goals it is therefore relevant to remember that not all questions can be adequately answered, however keeping the above questions in mind when setting goals will ensure that correct thought is applied to the goal prior to setting it. Ambitious: Unlike the specific goals, this part differs from the SMART goals. It is therefore impossible to utilize the same kind of framework. It would be possible to implement a series of questions such as above to attempt to derive a similar framework, but without evidence and research to support it I will not attempt to deliver a definitive answer. When setting FAST goals it is important to ask yourself questions like: “How likely am I to succeed with this goal?”, “Is this goal challenging enough?”, “What would be the reprocussions of failing to meet this goal?”. It is important to attempt to navigate the balance between ambitious and attainability, while keeping in mind if this goal is one that has to be met or not.

Organization application

The second part of the FAST goals is the surrounding structure which enables goals to perform better. The organizational application thusly becomes about enabling the goals to perform, and reinforcing the structures which lets them. In the example of Frequently talking about goals, a fundamental change might need to occur in order for this to take effect. Casually talking about goals instead of ‘setting and forgetting’ them, questioning the alignment with the strategic direction and revising goals as changes occur is what the F in FAST is about. Therefore an organization whom wishes to apply the FAST goals has to dedicate themselves to this, and nurture and environment which allows for this.

For the A in FAST, much the same is the case. In order to keep ambitious goals one has to be okay with not meeting the goals completely. Therefore the culture surrounding the goal has to be that goals are set high but not with the expectation of always meeting them. It therefore also become necessary for employers to reward the actual progress and performance made and not how well goals are executed. To align with FAST it therefore might be necessary to have a change in reward structure, performance management and culture. The T in FAST is perhaps the biggest of the three when it comes to the necessary work it takes to go from a non-transparent goal environment to a transparent goal environment. Enabling transparent goals requires not only a change in organizational culture, but also within the tools used to keep track of tools and display them. This synergizes with the F as frequently talking about goals enables transparency, but for any complex organization systems might be needed in order to broadcast the transparency throughout the organization. Therefore in order to apply transparency it must become a goal for the organization to strive for transparency, openly broadcast goals and give employees the ability to access this transparency.

Limitations

The FAST goals have been created with 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, ironicly enough, is quite unspecific. Therefore it is 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 etc 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.

No More Muddling Through - Mastering Complex Projects in Engineering and Management - A book written with the intention of being applicable by novice practitioners of Systems Engineering by introducing step-by-step methodology and solution methods used within the field. This book introduces the Problem-Solving Cycle, which is an iterative process of problem solving. The Problem-Solving Cycle focuses extensively on the importance of goals with Search for goals being one of three major steps and Goal definition being one of six minor goals to go from problem to solution. The importance of goals in this problem solving methodology shows the value, which can be derived from creating high quality goals.

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.

Predictive plan vs adaptive plan

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Project Management Institute, 2017, A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide), Sixth edition, Project Management Institute, Inc."
  2. ↑ Andersen, E, Grude, K & Haug, T, 2017, GOAL DIRECTED PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Effective techniques and strategies, fourth edition, Kogan Page.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Lunenburg, F, 2011, Goal-Setting Theory of Motivation, International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration., vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1-6."
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Kleinbeck, Uwe (ed.), Quast, H (ed.), Thierry, H (ed.), H„cker, H (ed.), Work Motivation, Psychology Press, pp. 3-25."
  5. ↑ Andersen, E, Grude, K & Haug, T, 2017, GOAL DIRECTED PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Effective techniques and strategies, fourth edition, Kogan Page, pp. 69.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "AXELOS, 2017, Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2, 2017 edition, The Stationery Office Ltd"
  7. ↑ Doran, G, 1991, There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives, Management Review, vol. 70, pp. 35-36.
  8. ↑ Rubin, R, 2002, Will the Real SMART Goals Please Stand Up, The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 26-27.
  9. ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 9.14 "Sull, D, Sull, C, 2018, With Goals, FAST Beats SMART, MITSloan Management Review"
  10. ↑ "Beck. J, Beedle. M, Bennekum. A, Cockburn. A, Cunningham. W, Fowler. M, Grenning. J, Highsmith. J, Hunt. A, Jeffries. R, Kern. J, Marick. B, Martin. R, Mellor. S, Schwaber. K, Sutherland. J, Thomas. D, 2001, Manifesto for Agile Software Development, Viewed 19/2-2021, <https://agilemanifesto.org/>"
  11. ↑ Project Management Institute, 2017, A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide), Sixth edition, Project Management Institute, Inc, page 346.
  12. ↑ Doerr, J, 2018, Measure What Matters, Penguin, pp. 184
  13. ↑ Doerr, J, 2018, Measure What Matters, Penguin, pp. 46
  14. ↑ "Züst, R & Troxler, P, 2006, No More Muddling Through - Mastering Complex Projects in Engineering and Management, Springer, pp. 83."
  15. ↑ "Farrell, M, 2016, Transparency, Journal of Library Administration, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 444-452."
  16. ↑ "Berggren, E, Bernshteyn, R, 2007, Organizational transparency drives company performance, Journal of Management Development, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 411-417"
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