SMART:

Specific: What do I want to accomplish? Why is this a goal? (Does it have a specific reason,
purpose, or benefit? Who is involved? Who is the recipient? Employees, customers, the
community at large?) Where should the goal be delivered? Finally, to what degree? In other
words, what are the requirements and constraints?

Measurable: Measuring is not only a way for people to track progress, but also a tool to help
people stay motivated. You can tell the goal is measurable by asking how much, how many, and
how will I know when it's accomplished?

You will need to measure most of the goals with metrics. Metrics, what you use to measure
something like numbers or figures. 5% or 20 Km. Next, consider benchmarks or points of
reference to make sure you're choosing accurate metrics. For instance, if your overall goal is to
increase revenue, you can look at last year's data as a benchmark for deciding how much to
increase revenue this year.

Attainable: Ask: “Can it reasonably be reached based on the metrics?” Challenging... Aim to
find a balance between the two extremes. Ask, “How can it be accomplished?” Break down the
goal in smaller parts and see if it makes sense.

Relevant: Ask, “Does the goal make sense? Is the goal worthwhile? (Does the effort involved
balance out the benefits) Is it the right time?

Time Bound: Goal has a deadline. (Track your progress).

SMART goals: Making goals meaningful

In this lesson you are learning to define and create measurable project goals and deliverables.
Now, let's focus on SMART goals.

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals are very helpful
for ensuring project success. As you start your career in project management, you may not
directly set the project goals, but you should be able to clarify and understand them. SMART
goals help you see the full scope of a goal, determine its feasibility, and clearly define project
success in concrete terms.

Let’s recap what we discussed in the previous video by taking a look at a breakdown of the
criteria for SMART goals below:
  Specific: The objective has no ambiguity for the project team to misinterpret.

 Measurable: Metrics help the project team determine when the objective is met.

 Attainable: The project team agrees the objective is realistic.

 Relevant: The goal fits the organization’s strategic plan and supports the project charter.

 Time-bound: The project team documents a date to achieve the goal.

You may see variations on what each letter in the “SMART” acronym stands for. (For example,
you may see “actionable” or “achievable” instead of “attainable” or “realistic” instead of
“relevant.”) However, the general intent of each of these terms—to make sure the goal is within
reach—is always similar.

Focusing on the "M" in SMART

Let’s take a moment to zoom in on the M in SMART, which stands for measurable. Having
measurable goals allows you to assess the success of your project based on quantifiable or
tangible metrics, such as dollar amounts, number of outputs, quantities, etc. Measurable goals
are important because they leave little room for confusion around expectations from
stakeholders.
Not every metric will have value, so you will have to determine which metrics make sense for
the project. For example, measuring how many meetings the software engineers on your project
attend on a weekly basis may not be the most valuable metric for a productivity goal.
Alternatively, you might measure other aspects of the engineers’ productivity, such as a
particular number of features created per engineer or a specific number of issues flagged per
day.

Defining a SMART goal

Let’s explore an example related to making a personal goal measurable. Imagine you are
looking to make a career change, and you set a goal to complete a Google Career Certificate.
You can measure the success of this goal because after completing the entire program, you will
receive a certificate—a tangible outcome.

Now, let’s determine how to make the remaining elements of this goal SMART. In this example,
your specific goal is to attain a Google Career Certificate. You can make this goal attainable
by deciding that you will complete one course per month. This goal is relevant because it
supports your desire to make a career change. Finally, you can make this goal time-bound by
deciding that you will complete the program within six months.

After defining each of these components, your SMART goal then becomes: Obtain a Google
Career Certificate by taking one course per month within the next six months.

Key takeaway

Determining metrics can be extremely helpful in capturing statuses, successes, delays, and
more in a project. As a project manager, identifying meaningful metrics can help move the
project toward its goal. Additionally, by defining each element of a project goal to make it
SMART, you can determine what success means for that goal and how to achieve it.

OKRs: Objective-Key Results

OKR is an acronym for objectives and key results. They combine a goal and a metric to
determine a measurable outcome. Objectives define what needs to be achieved and describe a
desired outcome. Key results define how the project team knows whether or not they have met
their objective. Three levels of OKRs: Company level, Department level, & Project level.

Company-level OKRs are shared across an organization so that everyone can align and focus
their efforts to help the company reach its goals. Project-level OKRs help define measurable
project goals. They need to align with and support both company and departmental-level OKRs.
For example, in order to align with Office Green's company-wide objective to increase customer
retention by adapting to the changing workplace environment, a project objective for Plant Pals
might be to enroll existing customers in the Plant Pals service. A key result for this objective
might be 25 percent of existing customers sign up for the Plant Pals pilot.

Objectives: Defines what needs to be achieved; describes a desired outcome. Key results: The
measurable outcomes that objectively define when the objective has been met

Company-wide OKRs are used to set an ultimate goal for an entire organization, whole team, or
department. Project-level OKRs describe the focused results each group will need to achieve in
order to support the organization.

OKRs and project management

As a project manager, OKRs can help you expand upon project goals and further clarify the
deliverables you’ll need from the project to accomplish those goals. Project-level OKRs help
establish the appropriate scope for your team so that you can say “no” to requests that may get
in the way of them meeting their objectives. You can also create and use project-level OKRs to
help motivate your team since OKRs are intended to challenge you to push past what’s easily
achievable.

Creating OKRs for your project

Set your objectives

Project objectives should be aspirational, aligned with organizational goals, action-oriented,

concrete, and significant. Consider the vision you and your stakeholders have for your project
and determine what you want the project team to accomplish in 3–6 months.

Examples:

 Build the most secure data security software

 Continuously improve web analytics and conversions
 Provide a top-performing service
  Make a universally-available app
 Increase market reach
 Achieve top sales among competitors in the region

Strong objectives meet the following criteria. They are:

 Aspirational: Is the objective challenging and inspiring?

 Aligned with organizational goals: Support company and departmental OKRs.
 Action-oriented: Motivate the team to take initiative.
 Concrete: Can project team easily grasp the objective
 Significant: Will achieving objective make a meaningful impact?

To help shape each objective, ask yourself and your team:

 Does the objective help in achieving the project’s overall goals?

 Does the objective align with company and departmental OKRs?
 Is the objective inspiring and motivational?
 Will achieving the objective make a significant impact?

Develop key results:

Next, add 2–3 key results for each objective. Key results should be time-bound. They can be
used to indicate the amount of progress to achieve within a shorter period or to define whether
you’ve met your objective at the end of the project. They should also challenge you and your
team to stretch yourselves to achieve more.

Examples:

 X% new signups within first quarter post launch

 Increase advertiser spend by X% within the first two quarters of the year
 New feature adoption is at least X% by the end of the year
 Maximum 2 critical bugs are reported monthly by customers per Sprint
 Maintain newsletter unsubscribe rate at X% this calendar year

Strong key results meet the following criteria:

 Results-oriented—not a task Does key result help define success for you team?
 Measurable and verifiable
 Specific and time-bound
 Aggressive yet realistic

To help shape your key results, ask yourself and your team the following:
  What does success mean?
 What metrics would prove that we’ve successfully achieved the objective?

OKR development best practices

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when writing OKRs:

 Think of your objectives as being motivational and inspiring and your key results as
being tactical and specific. The objective describes what you want to do and the key
results describe how you’ll know you did it.
 As a general rule, try to develop around 2–-3 key results for each objective.
 Be sure to document your OKRs and link to them in your project plan.

OKRs versus SMART goals

Earlier in this lesson, you learned how to craft SMART goals for your project. While SMART
goals and OKRs have some similarities, there are key differences, as well. The following article
describes how SMART goals and OKRs are similar, how they differ, and when you might want
to use one or the other: Understanding the Unique Utility of OKRs vs. SMART Goals

To learn more how OKRs work to help project managers define and create measurable project
goals and deliverables, check out the following resources:

 Google’s OKR playbook

 Planning company goals
 OKRs and SMART goals: What's the difference?
 OKRs and KPIs: What They Are and How They Work Together
 How OKR and project management work together
 OKR Examples
 OKR TED Talk video (John Doerr, the founder of OKRs, explains why the secret to
success is setting the right goals.)

OKR VS SMART goals

OKR Template