I love acronyms.
I have always considered acronyms as incredibly shrewd and useful tools, for communicating and for remembering complex concepts in a simple and effective way.
In this post i will focus on one acronym that I came across the first time while studying Prince2 and that, as often happens, I then met again several times in the following days, even if slightly modified.
The acronym is S.M.A.R.T. and, related to project objectives, stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Bound.
Honestly, I have to say that there seems to be no universal agreement on the words whose initials make up this acronym, as you can see by following this link. However, the version presented here is the one that I find more congenial and useful to my needs.
How could you hit a target, if you do not know where the target is? Or worst, how could you hit it, if you do not even know what the target looks like? In the same way you cannot achieve a objective if you do not provide (or if you have not been provided with) a clear description of the objective itself.
It seems obvious, I think that everyone would agree with the previous statement...but please keep in mind that defining specific objectives for a project is not an easy task.
To state or analyze a clear and well crafted business case, considering all present and future developments, benefits and advantages, requires both great project insight and business vision. You could need the aid of a business analyst and, possibly, great support from your corporate management.
If you have been provided with project documentation, in the form of a charter or of a project brief, take your time to examine it carefully and request clarifications wherever necessary.
Never get tired to inquiring your project's documents because, you know, the devil is in the details.
I believe that not to specify clearly project objectives is not a smart (and obviously not a S.M.A.R.T.) shortcut but the highway to failure.
Measurable
All the objectives must be measurable. Period. Always. Period.
If you do not have measurable objectives, it will be impossible to determine if you have been successful or not. It will also be impossible to determine the degree to which the project has fulfilled its expectations.
Also as you might rationally decide to terminate or to continue the project, if you do not have precise targets to measure progress? How could you reassess the business case? This could result in a massive expenditure of money without proper justification. Also, if you haven’t properly quantified your objectives, it is consequently impossible to determine their risk exposition and, as a consequence, it is impossible to determine the project’s risk exposition. No good. Believe me.
The problem here is to find proper ways to measure objectives.
Even this one can be a daunting task, depending on the particular industry you are in.
It is easy to measure the number of defective pieces of equipment coming out from a production line, or the lifetime of a new electric bulb. It is more difficult when it comes to customer satisfaction, software quality, reputation improvement, products quality improvement...In these cases an indirect measure could do the job.
As an example you could measure the number of contacts of your customer service and put it in relation with an improvement or a worsening of your products.
The bottom line is: everything can be measured, the problem is to identify suitable measurement units. It is a complex problem but is a problem that can be and must be solved.
Achievable
Some objectives just do not go well together. They seem to live in orthogonal dimensions.
Sometimes it seems that a complete scope, a fast time to market, a low budget and an high quality standards mix well...as oil and water.
So take care in having an achievable and consistent set of objectives. If it is not the case, try to reconcile reality with management's desires and expectations.
Never start a project that has not achievable objectives, pretending that everything is just fine and thinking ahead how to justify the unavoidable failure or below average performance.
Realistic
Everyone would like to be in charge of the next multi-billion dollars, thousands resources, hundred contracts project, with all the whistles and bells. Reality is, many times, different.
The project manager’s duty is to reconcile budget, time, scope, quality and all the other constraints into a shared and satisfying vision, be he/she in charge of a mega project or working in small businesses. The duties of a project manager toward the sponsor and the stakeholders do not change with budget’s size. Again, he/she must reconcile reality with management desires and expectations and must resist the temptation to artificially raise the bar in order to magnify its own role.
Time Bound
Every project should have a starting date and an ending date. Every objective should be achieved in the defined timeframe. Benefits could be achieved later on but a time span have to be defined as well.
This is an important commitment for a project manager.
So there is no point in defining objectives that cannot be achieved in the project timeframe or in the expected time for benefits realization, once project products are released in the operation environment.
Otherwise, an attitude of this kind could frustrate team members, create distrust in corporate management and alienate stakeholders.
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