How to define Project Objectives the right way

Did you now that 80 % of projects do not have set goals or objectives in the right way so that they lose money?

Have every considered that any project you start is defined by 3 constraints: Result, Money and Time?.

Did you know that the Number one reason for project failure is to be found in the goal-setting process?

• Maybe you have encountered that the Goals are not clear enough
• The client changes the scope of work during the project and you run out of budget
• You get the project on the fly and make assumptions o what the list of goals or smart objectives should be.
• You feel attacked and lack support by financing and other experts

In this post, I want to share with you:

1. What are the project goals?
2. What are the project objectives?
3. Why take your time to set goals/ objectives?
4. Who sets the project objectives?
5. How to set smart Objectives?
6. How to get a commitment to your project objectives?

1. What are project Goals?

You may think it is because you did not get the difference between goals and objectives right?  That is not the reason, because of practically both words. GOALS and OBJECTIVES are used as synonyms and get to translated into the German Language with the same one word: "Ziele", 

But there is a habit in the English language to use the word "Goa"l for a bigger, long-term outcome like the overall Project Goal- describing the Project Results in a short phrase. The word "Objectives" is often used for more specific outcomes.

GOAL: The overall project Goal

Objective- Specific Results. What exactly do we want to achieve with this project?

In my experience, both words are being used in Projects with the same meaning as synonyms. 

2. What are the Project Objectives?

Project Objectives are outcomes,  the answer to the question:

What do we want to achieve with this project?

By when do we want/need to finish the project? How much time do want to spend?

How much money do we want to spend on that project?

The most difficult question is to answer in a specific way:

What do we want to achieve with this project? This is why I am sharing with you the concept of the 3 R.

If you start brainstorming you may find it helpful to remember the 3 R-of Objectives.

R- Results

R Restrictions

R-Resources

       Here are some samples for

      R- Results:

       Functions, Functionality, Quality Parameter of a Product, speed,
       sustainability, color, height, weight,  savings, profit, duration, likeability,
      availability, reliability.......

      R-Resources

       5 Types of   project resources

EXPERTS-PEOPLE

MONEY-FINANCING

MATERIAL −CONSUMABLE

EQUIPMENT-MACHINES-SOFTWARE 

LICENSES-KNOW HOW

      R-Restrictions 

 6 Types of  project restrictions

1. COSTS- Is there really a limit? we need to stay under this budget of 100 Million

2. SCOPE -What is not in the scope?
What needs to be in the scope?

3. QUALITY - the building needs to be resistant to the 8.0 Richter earthquake.

4. Customer Satisfaction
Mrs. Miller has to like the solution, who else?

5.  LEGAL employment law, safety requirements, government regulations, environmental & other requirements 

6. METHODOLOGY
What software and processes and framework do we use?

 In Siemens projects, we used another set of Project Goals

- Business Goals

- Process Goals

- Behavioral Goals

I would love to add the Personal Goals of the stakeholders. Once you now them it helps a lot to lead them and manage their engagement.

3. Why take your time to set goals/ objectives?

Imagine you have signed off the project objectives, have planned all activities received the budget and started execution. This was the case in a Hotel Project I was invited as a consultant in the middle of the project as the owner of the beautiful seaside property had hired an architect and construction company, they had built the shell of a complex of 400 rooms resort at the beach and couldn*+t get approval o the hotel management group for a management contract in order to get further financing of the project completion. The reason was the rooms were not fitting into any norm of any 4 or 5-star hotel. management group. The elevators were not meeting the new standards etc.  I provided him with an architect who cost him 50.000 USD to revise the plans and drawings and it took him some Millions to change the construction. If he would have taken the time to analyze the stakeholder's requirements up front he would have saved time and money by getting hos project done faster. remember that all planning and execution is done in order to achieve the objectives. the objective is the destination and the activities are the sailes you set according to the wind to reach to your destination. 

4. Who sets the project objectives?

Story 1: Do you know the coin exercise? In our seminars, we do exercises where executives, project managers, and engineers are requested to sort a bunch of coins. We put about 100 different coins and currencies on the floor and ask a team of 3  to sort them within 2 minutes.  Triggered by the deadline they all start immediately without exemption sorting the coins in order to meet the deadline. Once they finished or got stopped by the watch I show my total disappointment and dissatisfaction in my role as being the Client. They all look surprised and I just ask the.m. Who sets the Project Objectives? 

Story 2: I was attending my first  PM workshop and then I was appointed a leader and project manager of an international team creating a handbook and training concept for a procedure of Problem solving and Decision making. I was asked to provide a project plan. So I was sitting in front of my computer and thought hm where do I start. I had attended the  PM training and I was leading projects before but now I was sitting there, struggling to get started. Finally, I called my mentor. and he told me: to take it easy just start by writing down some objectives as assumptions and then verify your objectives with all relevant stakeholders.

Take time to interview all stakeholders about their vision, needs, and objectives. I strongly recommend doing the stakeholder analysis before you set objectives.

Story 3:I f you are in the startup phase it is very likely that you see the objectives just from your angle and you ignore the market, the user, and the financing partners' goals.

It is hard to make clear assumptions on behalf of their interests. The support for your startup is mostly based on the emotions they have towards your project idea.

Sometimes a personal benefit is a ley, sometimes it is the Ego that tells them how cool it would it be to be part of such an innovative endeavor.

Find it out.! Know more about the people's motivation behind their support. Have you ever had the situation that you did all of the above and confidently presented the results to your team and hope they will support you with expertise and high motivation and a positive attitude and you see the boring faces, feel the reluctance of taking on responsibility for the tasks you assumed they should do.

This is typically the situation when the sales manager sold a complex solution and the experts were not involved in the sale process and now at the moment of handover, they do not feel motivated at all.

Our clients were open to new ideas and ready to introduce change to the rule of who is involved in the sales process. Spending time and recourses in that sales phase mad projects more profitable and we broke down the silos between departments like sales, service, and manufacturing and delivery.  Instead of 4 project managers, we empowered one responsible Project leader to lead through that process. the challenge is to sell and lead the communication between the client, all experts, financing partners, suppliers. and other stakeholders.

However, your leadership must be strong to keep motivation high. For innovative projects, it takes much more than money to make them successful.

Infrastructure projects require a set of political approvals for new regulations and often the business case that seems simple does not get understood by those people who have different concerns and focus.

Here our secret weapon is communication and relationship building, taking the time to understand the stakeholder's viewpoint in order to avoid blocking and set the foundation for at least a compromise. Strong Negotiation and Presentation skills are a must on that level.

5. How to set Smart Objectives?

In order to be smart, we need to know our stakeholder's and clients' objectives.

You may use interviews or workshops where you facilitate the process by writing the question on a flipchart.

What are your objectives?

Once we have them collected we can use the SMART formula to make sure we have clarity and the same understanding of what we mean by this or that Objective.

S- Specific

M- Measurable

A- Actionable

R- Realistic

T- Timed 

Online in Zoom Meetings, you may use Powerpoint or Google docs to visualize the objectives on the go. 

In my experience, people are so busy that when you just send them a list of ready objectives they might skip the thinking process and say yes to something they did not understand.

6. How to get a commitment to your project objectives?