Leadership's Ability: Goal Management

Goal setting, as defined in the wiki of the same name, involves the development of an action plan designed to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal.

We are adding some color and shape to that definition. Goal Setting is an ability whose attributes are broken into 2 mnemonic acronyms. The early milestones will focus on goals that are SMART. While the later milestone will begin to illuminate how we value goals that provide a LIFT.

---

This ability is in many ways codependent on a trio of Abilities, referred to as the Exponential Trio (Goal Setting, Systems Management, and Sense-&-Respond). So named because when applied together they are intended to have not just an additive or multiplicative impact on the success of a team… but an exponential impact.

1. Sense there is an unmet or under-served need (with process or product)
2. Turn this sense into a hypothesis (an impact or outcome goal) while bringing others along
3. Identify the second and third-order impacts of this hypothesis (how this will impact the systems in place)
4. Set a clear, impactful, S.M.A.R.T. goal that L.I.F.T.s us all up and has a two-way conversation designed in
5. Measure if the hypothesis was correct
6. Engage in the built-in two-way conversation and respond to the system impact of the action

7. Iterate... forever 😁 and Win... together 🎉

   That outline cannot be done by someone with only one of these three abilities... but it takes all three to be wielded in sync to have a scalable and lasting impact.

---

Back to Goal-Setting… each milestone will go into detail about the expectations of the 9 letters that make up SMART and LIFT, but let’s start off with a simple explanation of them:

• SMART
  • Specific – target a specific area for improvement
  • Measurable – quantify an indicator of progress
  • Achievable – should be realistic based on the person(s) involved and the context that surrounds them
  • Relevant – should be goals that truly matter to you or the group. If the goal isn’t something that folks care about, it will be a burden. This is important enough that it has a significant overlap with the I in LIFT as well.
  • Timely – “A goal without a timeline is just a dream.” -- Robert Herjavec (though we value dreaming as a key to continuous innovation… goals are the fuel to ensure our dreams come true)
• LIFT
  • Linked – inspired greatly from the book “Outcomes over Impacts”, the author discusses the difference between four types of goals and how they are all connected: activities => outputs => outcomes => impacts
  • Inspiring – group goals should communicate an aligned aspiration of the group. It should have an accessible gravity to it, a nuanced but understandable quality, and provocative or captivating characteristics such that folks come back to it and make decisions based on it.
  • Fusion – This has a significant overlap with systems management in that it focuses on how goals interact with each other. Fusion is definitionally the study of how two, potentially opposing, forces work together to produce a greater result. The power of fusion comes from being able to ask ourselves questions like, how can we set goals around both speed and quality?
  • Tight loop – Another attribute that will be discussed in greater detail in the Systems Management ability, having a tight feedback loop is vital to the continued success of a goal.

Additional Notes/definitions of the sub-factors (referred to as impact radius) of each attribute of goal setting:

People

• Benefactors are within your squad
• Benefactors are across multiple squads
• Benefactors are across all squads
• Benefactors are across multiple departments
• Benefactors are across multiple companies

Benefactor impact

• A well-set goal has repercussions that last days
• A well-set goal has repercussions that last weeks
• A well-set goal has repercussions that last checkpoints
• A well-set goal has repercussions that last quarters
• A well-set goal has repercussions that last years

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability with only a small amount of guidance

---

Impact Radius:

• Self - Squad: up to quarters
• Multi/All Squad: up to weeks
• Multi-Department: N/A
• Multi-Company: N/A

---

Specific

• Goals you set are known for their appropriate level of specificity. does a good job of giving examples of the balance of specificity.
  • For instance, instead of keep the house clean, get in shape, and do well in school… A well-stated goal would be to wash dishes, walk in the park, improve grade by 1 letter grade. [*]
• A good rubric could be the five “W”s - a list of questions you should ask yourself when thinking about specificity [**]:
  • What do I want to accomplish?
  • Why is this goal important?
  • Who is involved?
  • Where is it located?
  • Which resources or limits are involved?

Measurable

• Goals you set are clearly quantifiable, meaning they have a number we can go and look at and agree on.

Achievable

• N/A

Relevant

• N/A

Timely

• All of the goals are expected to have a timeframe. See Impact Radius for details of the expected timeframes. Defining KPIs (key performance indicators are a form of goals without timeframes) is not something expected of a Milestone 1.

---

Linked

• N/A

Inspiring

• N/A

Fusion

• N/A

Tight loop

• N/A

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability, with no assistance as well as being a trusted active or passive mentor to others

---

Impact Radius:

• Self - Squad: up to quarters
• Multi/All Squad: up to checkpoints
• Multi-Department: up to weeks
• Multi-Company: N/A

---

Specific

• Goals you set adhere to the specificity defined in Milestone 1.

Measurable

• Goals you set are clearly quantifiable, meaning they have a number we can go and look at and agree on. However at Milestone 2, you will likely begin utilizing qualitative measures as well as purely quantitative when crafting a goal. The vast majority of the time, when you set a goal everyone involved can answer “How will I know when it is accomplished?”.

Achievable

• Goals you set consider the context necessary to assure achievability for you and/or your squad. You may also be a part of setting achievable goals for any guilds or DBWGs you are a member of.

Relevant

• Goals you set consider the context necessary to assure relevance for the small group involved.

Timely

• All of your goals are expected to have a timeframe. See Impact Radius for details of the expected timeframes. Defining KPIs (which are a form of goals without timeframes) are not something expected of a Milestone 2.

---

Linked

• Your goals are likely to still be mostly activity or output based, however, at this milestone you’ve started to tie them to outcomes set by others. You may be responsible for setting the outcomes yourself, but that will become more of an “every goal” thing at the next milestone. At this milestone, you are connecting activities to outputs to outcomes, however the link to impacts (lagging indicators) may still be missing or unclear.
• Take for example, this common to product teams, activities => outputs => outcomes => impacts, linkage scenario; \ If we deliver at least 5 stories per week… (activity) \ … then we will likely deliver project X by ##/##/###... (output) \ … if we do that, then we will likely increase the usage of Y feature… (outcome) \ … if we do that, then we will likely increase our net retention by Z points (impact)

Inspiring

• N/A

Fusion

• N/A

Tight loop

• N/A

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to multiple squads when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can employ this ability as well as being considered an expert within this discipline

---

Impact Radius:

• Self - Squad: up to years
• Multi/All Squad: up to quarters
• Multi-Department: up to checkpoints
• Multi-Company: N/A

---

Specific

• Goals you set, adhere to the specificity defined in Milestone 1.

Measurable

• Goals you set appropriately utilize the appropriate type of measure (quantitative vs qualitative). Folks seek you out to help them set goals that have a clear answer to “How will I know when it is accomplished?”.
• At this milestone, you’ve read about and began putting into practice a definition of “good data”. I am partial to the definition offered by the book “9 Lies About Work”, which states good data has three distinct characteristics:
  • Reliable - a measure with data we are confident is measuring what it says it is measuring, in a stable, predictable, simply countable way.If the data wobbles by itself with no outside input, it is likely not reliable.
  • Variable - a measure in which the data displays natural range. An example of a survey question that produces a bad range is; “I feel my job fits my abilities” and asks you rate on a 5-point “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree” scale. To product range in a rating, we have to create questions with extreme wording. Compare our previously mentioned survey question with “I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work”. The words every day are extreme, and their effect is to push respondents towards either end of the rating scale - to produce range. Another example from the book: “I believe that my company has a worthy vision” = bad. “I am really enthusiastic about the mission of my company” = good.
  • Valid - a measure whose data variation relates to or better yet predicts something else in the real world. When one piece of reliable data predicts another piece of reliable data, we know the first set of data is valid.

Achievable

• Goals you set, adhere to the achievability defined in Milestone 2.

Relevant

• Goals you set clearly showcase the relevance, not only to those directly responsible but to those viewing the goal from the outside as well. This article has a few great questions that folks can answer “yes” to, that you are known for considering when crafting a goal:
  • Does this seem worthwhile?
  • Is this the right time?
  • Does this match our other efforts/needs?
  • Am I/are we the right person/people to reach this goal?
  • Is it applicable in the current environment?

Timely

• All of your goals are expected to have a timeframe. See Impact Radius for details of the expected timeframes.
• At Milestone 3, you are now responsible for discerning between a goal that is best suited for a timeframe and a non-timeframe-bound goal, KPI. KPIs are more of a systems management concern, but since they are definitionally a form of goal they are worth mentioning briefly here. I warned you that Goal Setting and Systems Management will have some overlap :-)

---

Linked

• At this milestone, your goals are always outcomes (or have a clear link to an outcome). To be clear, activity and output based goals aren’t bad, and you should create them… but at this milestone, you are expected to always tie them back to an outcome.
• At this milestone, you are connecting activities to outputs to outcomes, as well as connecting outcomes (leading indicators, nearly always a change in human behavior) to impacts (lagging indicators such as company revenue or bug injection rates). You are involved in, but not responsible for, creating the guiding light impact measures that drive a squad, department, or the company as a whole.

Inspiring

• You are known for creating goals that inspire action. You create group goals that communicate an aligned aspiration of the group. Your goals have an accessible gravity to them, a nuanced but understandable quality, and provocative or captivating characteristics such that folks come back to it and make decisions based on them.

Fusion

• At Milestone 3, you are acutely aware of how interrelated goals such as quality vs speed goals impact each other. However, you are likely not yet directly responsible for ensuring the system that is the web of goals a large group of people has.

Tight loop

• Another systems management overlap, but at Milestone 3, it is clear you know the value of not just setting a goal, but you give a lot of thought to how folks will interact with the goal. All those that are directly responsible for a goal have a habit formed of being informed by the goal and our progress towards the goal.
• Stakeholders outside of the responsible group, may not be as tuned into the goals you set.

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to a squad when wielding this ability, and therefore I would put them in situations where they can not only employ this ability but where they set the tone for this at the company level

---

Impact Radius:

• Self - Squad: up to years
• Multi/All Squad: up to years
• Multi-Department: up to years
• Multi-Company: up to quarters

---

Specific

• Goals you set, adhere to the specificity defined in Milestone 1.

Measurable

• Goals you set, adhere to the measurability defined in Milestone 3.

Achievable

• Goals you set, adhere to the achievability defined in Milestone 2.

Relevant

• Goals you set, adhere to the relevance defined in Milestone 3.

Timely

• Goals you set, adhere to the time-bound concerns defined in Milestone 3.

---

Linked

• Goals you set, adhere to the specificity defined in Milestone 3 as well as being responsible for creating the guiding light impact measures that drive a squad, department, or the company as a whole.

Inspiring

• Goals you set, adhere to the specificity defined in Milestone 3.

Fusion

• You are directly responsible for ensuring the system, that is the web of goals, a large group of people have. Folks come to you to discuss how one goal might impact another.

Tight loop

• Your goals have a clear strategy for both the folks responsible for as well as the stakeholders to understand and engage with your goals on an appropriate cadence (be it daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly

I have observed this person showing a consistent, comfortable, continuous, and clear positive impact to not just internal teams but the community/industry in general when wielding this ability, and they are recognized by the community/industry as an expert

---

The big difference between milestone 4 and 5 is that at Milestone 5, you are recognized by the community as an expert.

Impact Radius:

• Self - Squad: up to years
• Multi/All Squad: up to years
• Multi-Department: up to years
• Multi-Company: up to years

---

Specific

• Goals you set, adhere to the specificity defined in Milestone 1.

Measurable

• Goals you set, adhere to the measurability defined in Milestone 3.

Achievable

• Goals you set, adhere to the achievability defined in Milestone 2.

Relevant

• Goals you set, adhere to the relevance defined in Milestone 3.

Timely

• Goals you set, adhere to the time-bound concerns defined in Milestone 3.

---

Linked

• Goals you set, adhere to the linkability defined in Milestone 4.

Inspiring

• Goals you set, adhere to the inspirational nature defined in Milestone 3.

Fusion

• Goals you set, adhere to the fusion defined in Milestone 4.

Tight loop

• Goals you set adhere to the feedback loop accessibility defined in Milestone 4.