Smarter Program Management with SMART Goals
Any manager knows that strategy can only play out with effective execution.
And the most important resource at your disposal, is your people.
Manage well, and your program can scale and hum along just fine. Leaving you free to devise the strategy for your next stage of growth and to overcome the next challenge.
The aspect I’ll touch upon today — is about getting things done — and specifically using SMART Goals.
Why SMART Goals?
I have witnessed far too often agile stories without a clear task definition, completion criteria (definition of done), misaligned capability (especially when the team is not permitted to self manage), and often it is unclear ‘by when’ the ask is to be done.
Without these clear details, all too often, the results are not what were hoped for.
Think of SMART goals as your quick checklist to ensure you’ve assigned goals well.
SMART goals will definitely level up your communication across, and with better expectations set — your program.
Get Started with SMART Goals
SMART goals are an acronym for ‘Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound’.
Specific
Be specific about your goal. An example goal:
Measurable
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it
~Peter Drucker
As a Program Manager or Product Manager in a technical line, it is even easier to measure change.
So give some thought to how success can be measured. This further eliminates ambiguity. Let’s develop our specific goal above:
This adds meat to the specific goal. In very ambiguous environments, you can set sliding scale or Bronze/Silver/Gold levels.
This enables your team to aim for ‘reach’ goals and it’s not an all-or-nothing objective.
Achievable
Does your team have the capability to achieve what you’ve requested?
e.g. asking the QA automation engineering wing to work on Performance optimization, or an untrained team member to take on a challenging task — may lead you to disappointment.
Also, its worth thinking of roadblocks in your path and have mitigation plans in mind.
Realistic
Can your team realistically complete your ask?
Too often I see managers making asks that are outside the realm of reality.
It is all too important to keep in mind competing priorities that may reduce availability or throughput of key resources. As a Program Manager, its your job to ensure you don’t set up your team for failure.
And remember — if long hours and weekends are part of the long term strategy — burnout is inevitable. Too often this leads to unexplained gaps in performance and a downhill performance trend.
To get things done, you want your team energized and enthusiastic.
Time Bound
And the last (and too often skipped item) —setting a time bound goal — is one that finally gets things done.
Work expands to fill the time available for its completion Parkinson’s First Law
~ C N Parkinson
A well managed program will enable you to also demonstrate generosity with time. Simultaneously you want to hold your crew accountable. So track closely and check in.
Time horizons are also a key to program maturity. Matured programs will be able to execute over larger time horizons.
So always ask for an ETA (and in very ambiguous scenarios — a DFD (Date for a Date)) when setting goals.
What SMART Goals are NOT
It’s interesting to note that SMART goals are not a method of micromanagement.
You’ll notice that ‘HOW’ is missing in SMART goals. The same is observed with self managed and agile teams: the execution nuts and bolts are left to the better judgement of the team.
With the right vision setting, training / knowledge sharing, and grooming of your team, SMART goals can enable you to run your teams effectively. With maturity of your teams, you’ll gain the opportunity to set goals over larger time horizons and work on long term strategy and growth.
Next steps
To effectively manage your program, a shared vision is important — everyone needs to know where we’re headed and be aligned to play their part.
And for long term success, you’ll still want to take the time to coach your teams and ensure career goals / interests of your teams align. See that your team has the knowledge, tools and accesses to succeed (overlooked far too often).
Think of SMART goals as an important addition to your management toolkit.
As simple and effective SMART goals are; they need practice to hone. From now on, for each ask, ensure you cover all aspects of the SMART acronym.
Like most of us, you may miss out on some aspect as you get started. I recommend going back and clarifying when you realize something’s missed. Make it a habit.
The clearer your teams are on your asks, the better they can execute. Your program management will be smarter with SMART goals.
