Measurable, Challenging & Achievable Goals

When I was young I always wanted to BE somebody when I grew up. I just wish I'd been more specific.

When most project teams hear the shot of the starting gun, they leap into figuring out how to do it - even before they clearly understand what 'it' is. Even when the team believe that they have goals, they are often nebulous and ill-defined. Even worse, different people have dramatically different ideas of the goal, but are under the illusion that they are singing from the same song sheet.

Doom is the destiny of the directionless.

In the throes of a product launch, teams are going to do what is required, not necessary what is desired.

Anything that is not an explicit goal is unlikely to be given the attention it deserves.

Planning a new product without first defining the criteria for success is the equivalent of trying to steer a large boat by paddling with your hands: you will end up wherever the current takes you.

Imagine youself floading on a raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a dard, cloud-covered moonless night. Having no idea of where you are, whether you are moving, or in which direction, why on earch would you bother paddle?

Rather than dramatic heroics, this chaos of no clear goals calls for a cool head.

A project isn't successful if the entire team is burned out at the end, or if key individuals quit in frustration afterward, or if most customers are disatisfied with the product.

Wave goodbye to the triple constraints.

What gets measured is what gets done. 1. Ac omplete list of success criteria 2. A clear description of each of these criteria 3. SMART 4. Minimum acceptance level 5. Prioritization, or at least for the top 3 most important criteria.

When this product is wildly and outrageously successful, what will people be saying about this project, this team, and this company?

Applying the scorecard process with discipline will dramatically reduce the chances of failure and keep your team focused on what it's really going to take to claim a legitimate victory.

No matter how deligent you are at creating clear goals, there will usually be resistance from the CAVE people (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) as well as from reasonable people, because some of these criteria simply can't be EASILY measured.

The anticipation of measurement can sometimes be more important than the practicality of the measurement or the accuracy of the scale. A simple red/yellow/green assessment is sufficient.

The primary cause of product failure is preventable. Don't settle for anything less than goals that are as clear as sunlight. Without them, your team could end up like the guy with an arthritic hand who prayed 'Please, dear God, make my one hand like the other' -  only to end up with two crippled hands.

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