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Objectives can simply be referred to as the ‘why’ in a definite plan of action. They are the specific targets behind the tasks, plans, and to-dos carried out in the project management process. In fact, fulfilling objectives is the reason why projects are carried and serve as a yardstick for measuring whether a project has been successful or not.
But within the wider context of project management, project objectives are far more complicated and nuanced than the dictionary meaning suggests.
Project objectives are the step-by-step goals that add up to the big picture target of the project. In essence, objectives are the results that are to be delivered at each of the stages of work the project has been broken into. Project objectives make it easy to track how far and well work is progressing on the project.
Project objectives create a simple and straightforward process for a team to track their progress.
Here’s how you need to set objectives in a project:
And that’s why project objectives are so important; project objectives help create a realistic process for telling where a project is at and tracking how complete it is.
Learn what's important in the simplest ebook for non-project managers.
It can be easy to confuse terms related to project objectives if we define them strictly by their grammatical meanings. As such, in order to get to the depth of project objectives and other related terms, it’s necessary to break them down to their very essence.
Some of the project tracking technicalities that are easy to mix up are project goals, objectives, and project deliverables. While they all sound grammatically alike, there are distinct differences that define each of them, such as:
Project goals are the long-term targets of any project. A goal is the bigger picture–‘the why’–that a project is supposed to answer. Project management goals are clearly defined at the planning stage since, for an entire team to stay focused on the targets of a project, it’s imperative that everyone is aware of what’s on the line before a project kicks off.
Goals are often monolithic, complicated visions of what the team wants to achieve, defined with as much clarity as possible so it can actually be achieved.
While they seem quite alike, project objectives are quite different from goals within the project management context. While goals are the big picture targets behind the execution of a project, an objective is a short-term goal, albeit, on a smaller scale, that adds up step by step to the big picture goal.
Within the context of project management, project deliverables are the tangible ‘what’ that gets produced in the project execution process.
An example of a project objective, goal, and deliverable, take the case of a team trying to increase their website traffic.
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Objectives can be grouped into various divisions or types that make it easy to define and track them during the project planning and execution process. These include:
Defining where an objective falls under makes it easier to: (a). prioritize for more pressing concerns, and, (b). clearly visualize projects and track objectives based on their grouping.
In order to keep project goals and objectives as reasonable and understandable as possible, they must be defined to mirror reality. Simple, yet defined enough to cover all aspects of the project.
The SMART framework helps define project objectives so team members are not left wondering where exactly to direct their efforts and therefore, it’s easier to eventually achieve them.
What exactly are we looking to get done? Can we define it in terms of action? Instead of “publish a lot of blog posts”, how about, “create four search-optimized blogs per month?” Only a specific objective can be achieved since it’s defined in terms of the action needed to deliver it.
How far? How much? How big should our delivered results be? These questions help define objectives in terms of what it’ll take to say, “okay, we’ve done it.”
Can it be done? Even if it can, can it be done with our resources and within this timeframe? The achievability question helps to keep objectives in perspective so the team doesn’t get burnt out, wasting time, energy, and resources on a wild goose chase.
How does it tie into the big picture? Does this objective draw us closer, in any way, to the big picture? It doesn’t make much sense to invest time, energy, and resources into an objective that doesn’t bring you closer to your desired targets.
How long do we have to deliver this objective? And, is our time frame realistic? Admittedly, you don’t have forever to achieve any objective, so every project objective must also be measured by the amount of time it takes to achieve it.
For an easy-to-track platform that helps you coordinate objectives without wrangling through numerous Google apps for project management, we’ve built our project management software for just that.
The SMART framework offers an ideal basis for creating and measuring objectives. Once approved, they represent the agreement between all project stakeholders on the purpose of the project. They help frame the success measures and declare the success of the project.
Kissflow Project simplifies the process of creating, tracking, and marking off completed objectives so your agile team can have a single source of truth for managing your project objectives. This way, your team can focus on actually getting work done.
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