A project goal that people can understand
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One key to success is making sure everyone understands what your project is supposed to accomplish. Here are tips for putting together a project goal that keeps your project on track to success.
Identify a specific business objective or issue to resolve. Successful projects solve a significant ongoing issue or produce new capabilities for the business and/or its customers. The project goal should succinctly describe the capability or issue, and the outcomes the project will deliver. For example: “The project will address gaps in tracking shipments to our remote locations by creating an extension to our existing logistics application.”
Verify the goal beyond your sponsor and primary customer. As key stakeholders, the project sponsor and primary customer must support the project goal statement. To ensure an accurate and meaningful project goal, conduct a stakeholder inventory and verify the project goal with other influential leaders. That way, you avoid questions about the project intent or scope that could delay project launch.
Smaller goals work best. Project goals can be quite extensive, which is not only fine, but also often necessary. However, smaller goals achieved through a series of targeted projects are less risky than trying to run one large project. Agile project methods embrace this concept. Breaking your goal into smaller pieces means achieving outcomes earlier. Also, smaller goals might reduce the need for organizational change management activities. You can still achieve significant objectives by delivering in progressive steps.
Don’t dilute the goal. Ensure every project task helps you achieve your goal. Especially on longer projects, other goals have a way of sneaking into your project. Ensure that you and your team members focus on only the work needed to complete your project as defined. Enforce a stringent change management process to avoid scope creep, and you’ll be on your way to delivering successful outcomes!
For more about project management, check out my Project Management Foundations course.
