smart goals for research project

13 SMART Goals Examples for Clinical Research Associates

As a research associate (CRA), establishing objectives plays a vital role in professional growth. It keeps you on track driven and well organized in your job. However, not all goals carry the weight.

In the realm of research, where precision and correctness are paramount setting SMART goals becomes even more crucial. This ensures that your actions are in sync with the company’s aims and contribute to triumph.

Below we present 13 instances of SMART goals for research associates. These can act as a roadmap to assist you in crafting your customized set of goals that harmonize with your career ambitions.

Table of Contents

What is a SMART Goal?

The SMART ( Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-based ) approach can provide clinical research associates with a framework to create goals.

• Specific: Define precise goals to enhance focus and clarity, avoiding vague aspirations.
• Measurable: Set quantifiable targets to track progress and ensure data integrity in research.
• Attainable: Strike a balance between ambitious and realistic goals to maintain motivation.
• Relevant: Align goals with personal values and professional aspirations for sustained motivation.
• Time-based: Use a realistic timeline to achieve success over time.

Why Every Clinical Research Associate Should Set SMART Goals

Clinical Research Associates (CRAs) play a crucial role in the success of clinical trials, making SMART goals essential for their effectiveness. Specific goals offer clarity by defining precise objectives, like enhancing patient recruitment or ensuring data accuracy.

Measurable targets allow CRAs to track progress quantitatively, aiding in decision-making and strategy adjustments as needed.

Furthermore, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals ensure that CRAs operate efficiently within their role parameters. This fosters personal and professional growth while contributing to the advancement of medical science.

Types of SMART Goals for Clinical Research Associates

CRAs play a pivotal role in ensuring the successful execution of clinical trials. An in-depth understanding of goals is essential for driving effective and efficient clinical research operations.

Patient Recruitment Goals

CRAs should establish clear targets for patient recruitment, specifying the number of participants needed per site and study phase. These should consider factors like geographic location, target demographics, and expected timelines to ensure consistent enrollment and retention throughout the study duration. 

Visit Efficiency Goals

Efficient monitoring visit goals should include setting specific frequencies for site visits based on risk assessments and protocol requirements. Plus, they aim to streamline report generation processes, specify turnaround times for query resolutions, and track the resolution rates of identified issues to improve oversight and data quality.

Regulatory Compliance Goals

Regulatory compliance goals encompass ensuring adherence to study protocols, maintaining accurate documentation practices, and tracking completion rates for regulatory training among site staff. These targets are crucial for upholding ethical standards in research conduct and mitigating risks related to non-compliance with regulatory requirements.

Data Quality Goals

Establishing data quality standards involves defining objectives for resolving data queries, conducting source data verification at predetermined intervals, and ensuring data accuracy. High data quality standards are essential for generating reliable study outcomes and supporting regulatory submissions.

Professional Growth Goals

Professional development goals for CRAs may include enhancing therapeutic knowledge relevant to assigned studies, participating in leadership training programs to improve managerial skills, or acquiring proficiency in emerging technologies used in clinical research operations.

Site Relationship Goals

Effective site relationship objectives involve establishing strategies to enhance communication channels with investigative sites, providing ongoing training support to site staff as needed, and aligning mutual goals to ensure collaborative partnerships throughout the study lifecycle.

Cultivating strong relationships with sites fosters trust improves cooperation, and ultimately contributes to the successful execution of clinical trials.

13 SMART Goals for Clinical Research Associates

1. improve time management.

SMART Goal: “I want to improve my time management skills to complete all assigned tasks on time and increase productivity this year. I’ll take a workshop on time management techniques and incorporate at least three new methods into my daily routine by the end of 6 months.”

Specific: This goal explicitly states what skills need improvement and how to succeed.

Measurable: Quantify progress by the number of new time management techniques incorporated into daily routine.

Attainable: The workshop and three methods are achievable within the given time frame.

Relevant: Effective time management is crucial for productivity in a fast-paced clinical research environment.

Time-based: The SMART statement includes a 6-month deadline.

2. Develop Project Management Abilities

“Within 5 months, I’ll improve my project management skills by attending at least one project management workshop and implementing at least two new techniques in my current projects. I will also seek feedback from my colleagues to ensure I effectively apply these techniques.”

S: You’ve identified actions to take: attending a workshop and implementing new techniques.

M: Measure the number of techniques you apply and the feedback from colleagues.

A: Anyone can improve their project management with grit and commitment.

R: Enhancing project management skills is vital for a clinical research associate.

T: You have set a timeline of 5 months for reaching this target.

3. Verify Clinical Trial Data Accuracy

“I want to thoroughly review all clinical trial data and ensure its accuracy in three months. I’ll cross-check data with source documents and conduct quality control checks on all data points. This will boost the overall quality of our research and ensure accurate results.”

S: The individual aims to review all clinical trial data for accuracy within three months.

M: Determine data accuracy by following the listed procedures (cross-checking with source documents and conducting quality control checks).

A: This is feasible as you likely have access to the necessary resources and knowledge required for data verification.

R: Ensuring accurate clinical trial data is crucial for maintaining integrity in research and making informed decisions.

T: Your goal has an end date of three months for success.

4. Strengthen Attention to Detail

“I know that attention to detail is crucial for a clinical research associate within two months. Therefore, I will consciously review all documents and data thoroughly before submitting them.”

S: This highlights the behavior you want to improve (reviewing all documents and data) and why it’s essential for your role.

M: Keep a record of how many documents or data you’ve reviewed and if there were any mistakes found.

A: Noticing mistakes is absolutely possible with increased focus and attention.

R: Attention to detail is essential in clinical research, and improving this skill will help you excel in your role.

T: Goal completion is anticipated after two whole months.

5. Boost Data Analysis Skills

“For this year, I’ll improve my data analysis skills by attending at least two training sessions and completing one online course. I hope to be able to confidently analyze and interpret data for clinical research projects.”

S: The SMART goal details what skills to improve, how to improve it, and the deadline.

M: Closely track the number of training sessions attended and courses completed.

A: This is realistic because there are many options for improving data analysis skills through various training opportunities.

R: Data analysis is a crucial skill in clinical research, and improving this skill will benefit the individual’s career and their contribution to projects.

T: One year is the expected time frame to meet this particular goal.

6. Expand Understanding of Research Ethics

“I plan to complete a course in research ethics to expand my understanding and knowledge this quarter. This course will be chosen from a reputable institution or organization. I aim to achieve a passing grade of at least 80%.”

S: You have an action plan to expand your understanding of research ethics.

M: The course completion and passing grade provide measurable outcomes for success.

A: Completing an online course is reasonable within the time frame of a quarter.

R: This relates to your role as a clinical research associate, where knowledge of research ethics is crucial.

T: This goal statement should be accomplished within the quarter.

7. Enhance Clinical Trial Monitoring Techniques

“I’ll study and implement the latest clinical trial monitoring techniques over the 6 months ahead. I will dedicate three hours every week to learning about new tools and methodologies to improve my efficiency as a clinical research associate.”

S: Focus on learning about the latest clinical trial monitoring techniques and implementing them.

M: Assess your skills after 6 months to determine if there has been an improvement.

A: Allocating enough time each week to study and learn is reasonable.

R: CRAs must stay updated with new tools and techniques for efficient clinical trial monitoring.

T: This goal statement has a timeline of 6 months for completion.

8. Diversify Training and Education

“I’ll implement a training and education program that includes diverse perspectives, experiences, and voices to promote inclusivity among CRAs. By the end of the year, this program should offer various resources like workshops, guest speakers, and online courses.”

S: The goal is well-defined, explaining the objective and how it will be reached.

M: Track the number of employees participating in this training program and gather feedback on its effectiveness.

A: This can be done by partnering with organizations or experts specializing in diversity and inclusion training.

R: This is relevant because it promotes inclusivity and ensures CRAs are well-equipped to work with diverse populations.

T: You have this year to implement the program successfully.

9. Increase Familiarity With Clinical Trial Protocols

“I want to spend one hour each day reviewing and familiarizing myself with 5 different clinical trial protocols for three weeks. I will also discuss my understanding of these protocols with my colleagues to ensure an accurate understanding.”

S: This specifies that the individual plans to review and become familiar with 5 clinical trial protocols.

M: Completing one hour daily for three weeks is a quantifiable goal.

A: One hour each day is a realistic and manageable amount of time to dedicate.

R: As a CRA, having a solid understanding of clinical trial protocols is crucial for success in the field.

T: There is a three-week window to accomplish excellence.

10. Streamline Data Collection Processes

“I’ll identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the data collection process by thoroughly analyzing our current procedures over the following two months. With this information, I will implement new processes that improve efficiency and reduce errors.”

S: This is specific since you’ve identified a particular area to improve and have laid out the steps for doing so.

M: Compare data collection processes before and after implementing new procedures.

A: As a research associate, it’s within their capabilities to analyze and improve data collection processes.

R: Streamlining data collection processes is pertinent to your role as a CRA and can contribute to overall project success.

T: This SMART statement will be completed after two months.

11. Improve Patient Safety Oversight

“Over 7 months, I’ll conduct a thorough review of current patient safety protocols and identify areas for improvement. I aim to implement two new processes to enhance patient safety by reducing errors and improving communication among healthcare staff.”

S: The goal specifically targets improving patient safety by implementing new processes.

M: Progress can be evaluated by tracking the implementation of new processes and monitoring error rates.

A: With a timeline of 7 months, this is feasible with proper planning and execution.

R: Patient safety is critical to clinical research, making this important for a CRA.

T: Optimal success is anticipated for the duration of 7 months.

12. Build Relationships With Study Site Personnel

“I will have established a positive relationship with at least three study site personnel this month. This will be done through regular communication and providing support to ensure successful completion of the study.”

S: The CRA states the objective of building relationships and provides a timeline to succeed.

M: This can be measured by the number of study site personnel the CRA has established positive relationships with.

A: This statement is doable as it focuses on establishing three relationships within a month.

R: Building positive relationships with study site personnel is essential for successful clinical research studies.

T: Goal accomplishment is expected over one month.

13. Provide High-Quality Reports

“The quality of my clinical research reports will meet or exceed the industry standard. I’ll strive for a minimum of 95% accuracy in all my reports by the end of the year.”

S: You will aim to achieve 95% accuracy in your clinical research reports.

M: Track your accuracy rate throughout the year and have a target of 95%.

A: With consistent effort, you can make improvements to reach this level of accuracy.

R: Producing high-quality reports is essential to being a successful clinical research associate.

T: The SMART goal will be met by the end of the year.

FAQs for Clinical Research Associates

How do i effectively apply smart criteria to set goals as a clinical research associate.

To effectively apply SMART criteria to set goals as a clinical research associate, start by ensuring that your goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Specify exactly what you want to achieve, quantify your progress, ensure it’s realistic within your capabilities, align it with your research objectives, and set a clear deadline for completion.

Can you provide practical examples of SMART goals for improving performance as a CRA?

SMART goals for a clinical research associate could include improving time management by attending time management workshops and implementing new techniques, enhancing data analysis skills through training sessions and online courses, or strengthening attention to detail by consciously reviewing all documents and data before submission.

How can I ensure my SMART goals are specific and relevant to clinical research objectives?

Ensure your SMART goals are specific by clearly defining the desired outcome, measurable by quantifying progress and success criteria, achievable by setting realistic targets, relevant by aligning with research objectives and career growth and time-bound by establishing a deadline.

What strategies measure progress and success when pursuing SMART goals in research?

Measure progress and success when pursuing SMART goals in research by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), regularly reviewing and evaluating your progress against set milestones, seeking feedback from supervisors or peers, and adjusting your approach to stay on track toward goal attainment.

How do I prioritize multiple SMART goals to focus on key tasks and objectives?

Prioritize multiple SMART goals by assessing their urgency and importance, breaking them down into smaller tasks or sub-goals, allocating time and resources accordingly, and focusing on completing high-priority goals first while maintaining flexibility to adjust priorities as circumstances change.

Using SMART Goals to Make Scientific Progress

By Alex Szatmary

Thursday, July 14, 2016

My well-organized desk, where SMART goals get completed.

A timer is always running on my desk, as I try to complete my current task before it beeps. This makes me sound like an organized, competitive, methodical person—not so! My desk is covered with mugs, stacks of paper, and cables unneeded for years. Email sits unreplied-to for days.

As a theoretician in the lab of Dr. Ralph Nossal (NICHD), I use mathematical modeling to study how cells get to places in the body. Most of my time is focused on completing clearly written goals born from project plans. A system of timers, project plans, and goals keeps me on track to do what I need to do so that I can get back to the fun part of my job that I would happily do for free. 

Here is some background information on my research project: When a person experiences inflammation, the body directs white blood cells to the inflammation site. In a process called chemotaxis, white blood cells migrate along a gradient of signaling molecules. During a bacterial inflammation, molecules made by the bacteria spread from the inflammation site. When white blood cells sense bacterial molecules, they secrete their own molecule called leukotriene B4 (LTB 4 ). White blood cells can navigate based on signals received from bacterial molecules, as well as by responding to LTB 4 . My overarching goal as a member of Dr. Nossal’s team is to determine how LTB 4 helps white blood cells coordinate their motion, which may clarify the ways various moving cells communicate in other contexts, such as during development and cancer metastasis.

Upon entering the body, bacterial molecules (black circles) stimulate a nearby population of white blood cells (grey objects) to generate LTB 4 (red triangles); the LTB 4 reaches other white blood cells that are too far from the bacteria to sense them directly, enhancing the immune system’s response.

A typical research project requires me to:

• read scientific literature on cell migration and signaling
• write computer code to model cell motion and communication
• communicate with experimentalists to determine what measurements we need
• gather, plot, and analyze the data
• collaborate with colleagues to write a paper that will undergo peer review
• manage the paper through the peer-review process

One of my challenges is that I like writing code more than I like writing prose, and so I can spend a long time working with nothing publishable to show. Writing goals and scheduling my time helps me bridge that gap between purpose and results, to make the most productive use of my time as an IRP postdoc. I wanted to make sure that I limit my coding efforts to what will be relevant to the paper and make steady progress on writing the paper.

Writing and pursuing goals can waste valuable time if the goals are not good. What makes a goal ‘good’? When writing goals, I’ve learned to use the ‘SMART’ criteria to ensure that it’s posed in a way that will move our research efforts forward.

SMART goals are:

In the business world, George T. Dolan pioneered the idea of setting SMART goals back in 1981 (1) . Since then, multiple authors have adapted his concepts to setting objectives for project management and personal development (2) .

Examples of how I employ SMART goals in scientific research:

Goals should not be ambiguous. First, I write down my overall goal and describe precisely what I’m trying to achieve. What do I want to accomplish?

I avoid goals like “Make plots,” because that’s a big, complex goal. It’s better for me to focus by breaking goals down into smaller, targeted parts:

• “Make plots showing how LTB4 concentration varies over time.”
• “Arrange plots to compare cell motion with and without LTB4.”
• “Fix problems noted by colleagues in draft.”

I clarify my specific outcome before I start, which lets me focus on the “what” rather than the “why” of what I’m doing, while I’m doing it.

How do I know when a goal is complete? By evaluating my progress. Each goal I write has a series of objectives that help me make small steps toward achieving the overall goal. These objectives are precise, concrete, and measurable.

Questions I ask when writing my goals include:

• “How am I going to accomplish this goal?”
• “What will I do or learn in the process?”
• To figure out if a goal is measurable, I ask, “How will I know when this is done?”

A goal like “Read papers on chemotaxis” can never be completed— a quick search of PubMed for ‘chemotaxis’ pulls up 36,039 papers . On the other hand, “Read three review papers on chemotaxis” is something I can do this afternoon if I start now. In scientific writing, goals that include word counts can help, because they’re objective and precise, but I prefer goals like, “Write paragraph on results for cell recruitment in early inflammation.”

Measurable doesn’t have to mean completely objective; a goal only has to be clear enough for me to know when I’m making progress on it and when it’s time to stop and do something else.

Who is responsible for making the goal happen? Are expectations clear and agreed upon by all interested parties? On a team collecting and analyzing data, it’s important to identify not just who has which role, but what condition the data should be in when it’s passed from the collectors to the analysts.

Most of the goals I write are assigned to me, but I also record to-dos to remind me to check on things I have asked others to do:

• “Who said they would give me feedback on my paper, and by when? Do they have everything they need?”
• “Did that order for printer toner get made? If not, what needs to happen?”
• “Has my summer student completed a draft of his poster?”

Can I achieve this goal with my current skills and resources? If not, is it feasible to acquire the necessary skills and resources in the goal’s established time frame? Is the time frame appropriate to the complexity and amount of effort the goal requires?

Goals are made to be achieved:

• “Write subsection on modeling LTB 4 transport today” is doable.
• “Write methods section this week” could be realistic, but “Write results and discussion today” probably is not.

Writing unrealistic goals leaves me discouraged when I don’t meet them, so I write goals that I’m confident that I can accomplish. Having a realistic plan lets me tell my collaborators when they can count on having things finished.

I establish a timeline for completing each goal and assessing progress. Is the timeline relevant to my current deadlines, and does it reflect my long-term objectives?

Many goals have a deadline built in, sometimes recurring. For example, I have a poster session coming up at the NIH Research Festival , and I need to prepare weekly lessons for a class I’m teaching. Some projects don’t have a hard deadline, but if I feel like I need to rush to finish a paper before I send out a grant application, it might be too late already.

Similarly, making a career move takes lots of preparation. I’m in the middle of my search for a tenure-track position at a predominantly undergraduate institution. To figure out my career goal, I arranged informational interviews with people in my network. I took workshops on teaching and then taught a class twice through FAES . Then, I prepared a job package and improved it with feedback from friends and mentors. All that could not have been done in the last few months of a fellowship.

I regularly review my plans to clarify what I need to do now rather than next week, even for projects that seem open-ended. It’s fine to have big goals like “submit paper before November,” but I usually break large goals down into things that can be finished in 30 minutes to four hours of work. Tasks much shorter than half an hour can actually take more time to keep track of than to do, so I group related short tasks into a single goal. On the other hand, gauging progress on goals that take more than half a day can be difficult, unless broken down into smaller steps.

Below is an example of my goal tracking in practice, with some notes included on why one of my goals was not achievable as written:

I don’t plan projects and keep track of goals because this way of thinking comes easily to me; I have to track goals explicitly, because I don’t automatically know what needs doing. Benefits of using the SMART criteria when planning and assessing goals include:

• Making it easy for me to figure out what to do next
• Determining what doesn’t really need doing, or what doesn’t need doing right now
• Managing expectations with my mentor and co-workers
• Sensing when it’s time to take a break or work on a fun side project

Research feels slow sometimes. It can also feel intimidating to start writing a manuscript. One of the most satisfying things to me about tracking goals is that, when I feel like I’m not making progress fast enough, I can look at my records and see how much I’ve actually accomplished.

This spring, I used SMART goals to lay out what is needed to turn my modeling work into a paper. Specific, measurable, and assignable goals helped my collaborators understand what data I needed from them on how neutrophils secrete LTB 4 , which also helped them predict what data they would have to present at a conference. Realistic and time-bound goals clarified our options as we decided which hypotheses to test. Two months later, we have drafted a paper we are close to submitting for review.

Thank you to Jennifer Patterson-West for contributing significant efforts to this post.

1. Doran, G. T. (1981). "There's a S.M.A.R.T. Way to Write Management's Goals and Objectives", Management Review, Vol. 70, Issue 11, pp. 35-36. 2. Fuhrmann, C.N., Hobin, J.A., Clifford, P.S., and Lindstaedt, B. (2013) “Goal-Setting Strategies for Scientific and Career Success.” Science Careers. http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2013_12_03/caredit.a1300263

Additional Resources

• http://cds.sdce.edu/decision-making/SMART-Goal-Setting
• This webpage has some useful worksheets for setting S.M.A.R.T. goals and provides a more detailed description of the concept.
• http://professional.opcd.wfu.edu/files/2012/09/Smart-Goal-Setting.pdf

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How to Write a S.M.A.R.T. Project Objective

By Kate Eby | November 22, 2016 (updated February 25, 2023)

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In this article, you'll learn all there is to know about the S.M.A.R.T method, and how to write the most effective goals for your project.

Included on this page, you'll learn what a project objective is , examples of successful project objectives , tips on how to craft a clear, concise objective using the S.M.A.R.T. method , and much more.

What Is a Project Objective?

A project objective states the desired results of a project at its outset, including goals and deliverables. An objective should be specific and measurable, and identify any time, budget, and quality constraints.

Objectives can be used in project planning for business, government, nonprofit organizations, and even for personal use (for example, in resumes to describe the exact position a job-seeker wants). A project may have one objective, many parallel objectives, or several objectives that must be achieved sequentially. To produce the most benefit, objectives must be defined early in the project life cycle , in phase two, the planning phase. 

Benefits of the Well-Written Objective

A well written objective is crucial because it can affect every step of the project life cycle. When you create a specific objective, you give your team a greater chance of achieving the objective because they know precisely what they’re working towards. Clear project objectives also support the current emphasis on total quality management: every member of the team can consider themselves responsible for quality, because the whole team can see the desired outcome from the beginning of the project. 

All types of endeavors can benefit from objectives. As an individual, you may use an objective to target exactly what to plan for. For example, you may know you want to go to graduate school, but finding an objective will help you to understand that you want to obtain a sociology degree at your local community college and to graduate in six years. A small nonprofit group may use objectives to determine that success for a recycling education program is when 40 percent of households in a county request free composting buckets. A construction company might use objectives to keep a building project on schedule and within budget . 

No matter what the project type, templates can make the job easier, from crafting the objective statements to planning the project .

Download Project Goal and Objectives Template

Excel | Word | PDF

Download Project Objectives Worksheet Template

The Taxonomy of Project Definitions

You may encounter several definitions of objectives , such as vision statements and business goals. While these terms are often used interchangeably, we’ve outlined the relationships among them to help you use them correctly:    

Vision Statement -  A statement that expresses the high-level intention of a project (often with lofty or unachievable goals). For example, a school may aim for perfect pupil attendance or a company may strive for 100% customer satisfaction. 

Business Goals - A company creates these to describe the overall outcomes it wants to accomplish in a certain time frame. Business goals are captured in business plans.     

Goals - A high-level, broad, non-specific, and long-term definition of what the group or organization wants to accomplish. Goals are not measurable, and several discrete projects may be needed to achieve a goal. Some people say that project goals do not need to be defined, so long as a project manager understands the business goals. However, project objectives are always needed. In a business, project goals are influenced by business goals. 

Objectives - Influenced by goals, an objective is a low-level description of the specific and measureable outcomes desired from a project. Activities and most likely deliverables will contribute to achieving the objective. The project and its objectives must always contribute to the goal, otherwise the project should not be attempted.          Bottomline: Goals are high-level, general statements about the aims of the project, while objectives are detailed statements about what the project should accomplish. 

Activities - This is what your team will do to achieve the objective. An activity can be a specific action or a process, and many activities will likely be involved to meet objectives. As with everything in project management, the key consideration for activities is that they contribute directly to achieving the objective, and thereby the goal. 

Deliverables - A specific, tangible product or thing, like a report or a software app. One or more deliverables may contribute to achieving an objective, but it is important not to define the objective as a deliverable. In other words, if the objective is written at too low a level, you risk creating the wrong deliverables. Rather, the objective is there to guide you and the team to determine what products or processes are needed. For example, say you have difficulty falling asleep each night. You may decide that your objective is to buy relaxing chamomile tea. Drinking the tea might help, but if your objective had been to ensure at least seven hours of sleep a night by the following month, you might have explored other solutions that would have greater benefits, such as making sure to get an hour of exercise every day.      Requirements - A description of features and functions. Objectives should not include features and functions. 

How to Define S.M.A.R.T. Objectives

SMART objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. To write SMART goals, consider the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are specific to your business or project. 

Specific: Define your objectives clearly, in detail, leaving no room for misinterpretation. Think of the five w’s (who, what, when, where, and why). 

Measurable: State the measures and performance specifications you’ll use to determine whether you’ve met your objectives.  

Achievable or Attainable: Choose objectives that the team has a reasonable expectation of successfully completing. 

Realistic: Set objectives the project team believes it can achieve. Relevant objectives align with group or company goals.

Time-bound: Include the date or specific period by which you’ll achieve the objectives.

If you’re interested in creating S.M.A.R.T. goals, use our template as a guide. 

Objectives and Indicators In some project management guides, you may also find reference to objectives and indicators. This is a different way of expressing the S.M.A.R.T. criteria. An objective may be stated as, Children in x county shall read better. The indicators would be, 60 percent of children under age 13 read at the appropriate reading level for their age.

Best Practices for Writing Successful Project Objectives

A project objective should be a brief, one-sentence statement that includes actionable, measurable goals. We’ve outlined some best practices for writing a successful project objective below.

Keep in mind that an objective should not specify how something is done, and consider the context and guidelines the organization you’re writing for use.

Here are a few suggestions to help you as you write the statement:

• Write the objective before starting the project.
• Identify all objectives at the beginning.
• An objective cannot be written in isolation. Get support from all levels of the team. If the team doesn’t believe in the objective, they won’t work towards it and stakeholders won’t provide resources. If stakeholders disagree with the objective, work with them until you get a statement you can all stand behind.
• Be brief; it increases the chances of objectives being read and understood.
• Be clear; don’t give a list of options or a range of target numbers. Ask for what you need and what you expect.
• Use plain English, not jargon so everyone can understand your objective.
• Make sure your objectives are things you actually can control. For example, “I will send out 50 letters of interest by next week” describes something you can achieve. “I will book 15 jobs by next week” is not something you can control, because it’s up to someone else to hire you.

Examples of Project Objectives

 Although project management guides and organizations differ on how specific the verbs used in an objective should be, all sources agree that an objective should be detailed to be effective. The following are examples of how not to and how to write an objective.

Poorly Written Objectives

• Personal: Earn more money.
• Personal: Go to university.
• Nonprofit: Help children read better.
• Business: Create a new app.
• Business: Install a new system.

Examples of Well Written Objectives

• Personal: Your goal may be to buy a house, but your objective is to get a condominium for under $250,000 with two bedrooms by August.
• Business: The goal is to build up the company in the near future. The objective is to increase sales of Super Widget by 10 percent by the second quarter of next year. 
• Business: The goal is to make existing customers happier. The objective is to improve customer satisfaction rates by 50 percent by June 30 through training of customer service team.
• Nonprofit: The goal is to restore a native habitat around the retention pond near the Old Road to encourage native bird and animal species to visit and improve water filtration. The objective is to support residential homeowners around the pond to remove and replace non-native plants on one-third of the designated area by December. 
• Objective 1: To locate a kitchen and eating space on a bus route that can serve 30 women by December 15. 
• Objective 2: To recruit volunteers who will staff the kitchen for breakfast and dinner by December 30. 
• Objective 3: To organize a regular donated food supply for breakfasts and dinners from local organizations and restaurants by December 30.

Use Smartsheet to Create and Document Your SMART Goals

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When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

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Educational resources and simple solutions for your research journey

What Are Research Objectives and How to Write Them (with Examples)

Table of Contents

Introduction

Research is at the center of everything researchers do, and setting clear, well-defined research objectives plays a pivotal role in guiding scholars toward their desired outcomes. Research papers are essential instruments for researchers to effectively communicate their work. Among the many sections that constitute a research paper, the introduction plays a key role in providing a background and setting the context. 1 Research objectives, which define the aims of the study, are usually stated in the introduction. Every study has a research question that the authors are trying to answer, and the objective is an active statement about how the study will answer this research question. These objectives help guide the development and design of the study and steer the research in the appropriate direction; if this is not clearly defined, a project can fail!

Research studies have a research question, research hypothesis, and one or more research objectives. A research question is what a study aims to answer, and a research hypothesis is a predictive statement about the relationship between two or more variables, which the study sets out to prove or disprove. Objectives are specific, measurable goals that the study aims to achieve. The difference between these three is illustrated by the following example:

• Research question : How does low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) compare with a placebo device in managing the symptoms of skeletally mature patients with patellar tendinopathy?
• Research hypothesis : Pain levels are reduced in patients who receive daily active-LIPUS (treatment) for 12 weeks compared with individuals who receive inactive-LIPUS (placebo).
• Research objective : To investigate the clinical efficacy of LIPUS in the management of patellar tendinopathy symptoms.

This article discusses the importance of clear, well-thought out objectives and suggests methods to write them clearly.

What is the introduction in research papers?

Research objectives are usually included in the introduction section. This section is the first that the readers will read so it is essential that it conveys the subject matter appropriately and is well written to create a good first impression. A good introduction sets the tone of the paper and clearly outlines the contents so that the readers get a quick snapshot of what to expect.

A good introduction should aim to: 2,3

• Indicate the main subject area, its importance, and cite previous literature on the subject
• Define the gap(s) in existing research, ask a research question, and state the objectives
• Announce the present research and outline its novelty and significance
• Avoid repeating the Abstract, providing unnecessary information, and claiming novelty without accurate supporting information.

Why are research objectives important?

Objectives can help you stay focused and steer your research in the required direction. They help define and limit the scope of your research, which is important to efficiently manage your resources and time. The objectives help to create and maintain the overall structure, and specify two main things—the variables and the methods of quantifying the variables.

A good research objective:

• defines the scope of the study
• gives direction to the research
• helps maintain focus and avoid diversions from the topic
• minimizes wastage of resources like time, money, and energy

Types of research objectives

Research objectives can be broadly classified into general and specific objectives . 4 General objectives state what the research expects to achieve overall while specific objectives break this down into smaller, logically connected parts, each of which addresses various parts of the research problem. General objectives are the main goals of the study and are usually fewer in number while specific objectives are more in number because they address several aspects of the research problem.

Example (general objective): To investigate the factors influencing the financial performance of firms listed in the New York Stock Exchange market.

Example (specific objective): To assess the influence of firm size on the financial performance of firms listed in the New York Stock Exchange market.

In addition to this broad classification, research objectives can be grouped into several categories depending on the research problem, as given in Table 1.

Table 1: Types of research objectives

Characteristics of research objectives

Research objectives must start with the word “To” because this helps readers identify the objective in the absence of headings and appropriate sectioning in research papers. 5,6

• A good objective is SMART (mostly applicable to specific objectives):
• Specific—clear about the what, why, when, and how
• Measurable—identifies the main variables of the study and quantifies the targets
• Achievable—attainable using the available time and resources
• Realistic—accurately addresses the scope of the problem
• Time-bound—identifies the time in which each step will be completed
• Research objectives clarify the purpose of research.
• They help understand the relationship and dissimilarities between variables.
• They provide a direction that helps the research to reach a definite conclusion.

How to write research objectives?

Research objectives can be written using the following steps: 7

• State your main research question clearly and concisely.
• Describe the ultimate goal of your study, which is similar to the research question but states the intended outcomes more definitively.
• Divide this main goal into subcategories to develop your objectives.
• Limit the number of objectives (1-2 general; 3-4 specific)
• Assess each objective using the SMART
• Start each objective with an action verb like assess, compare, determine, evaluate, etc., which makes the research appear more actionable.
• Use specific language without making the sentence data heavy.
• The most common section to add the objectives is the introduction and after the problem statement.
• Add the objectives to the abstract (if there is one).
• State the general objective first, followed by the specific objectives.

Formulating research objectives

Formulating research objectives has the following five steps, which could help researchers develop a clear objective: 8

• Identify the research problem.
• Review past studies on subjects similar to your problem statement, that is, studies that use similar methods, variables, etc.
• Identify the research gaps the current study should cover based on your literature review. These gaps could be theoretical, methodological, or conceptual.
• Define the research question(s) based on the gaps identified.
• Revise/relate the research problem based on the defined research question and the gaps identified. This is to confirm that there is an actual need for a study on the subject based on the gaps in literature.
• Identify and write the general and specific objectives.
• Incorporate the objectives into the study.

Advantages of research objectives

Adding clear research objectives has the following advantages: 4,8

• Maintains the focus and direction of the research
• Optimizes allocation of resources with minimal wastage
• Acts as a foundation for defining appropriate research questions and hypotheses
• Provides measurable outcomes that can help evaluate the success of the research
• Determines the feasibility of the research by helping to assess the availability of required resources
• Ensures relevance of the study to the subject and its contribution to existing literature

Disadvantages of research objectives

Research objectives also have few disadvantages, as listed below: 8

• Absence of clearly defined objectives can lead to ambiguity in the research process
• Unintentional bias could affect the validity and accuracy of the research findings

Key takeaways

• Research objectives are concise statements that describe what the research is aiming to achieve.
• They define the scope and direction of the research and maintain focus.
• The objectives should be SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
• Clear research objectives help avoid collection of data or resources not required for the study.
• Well-formulated specific objectives help develop the overall research methodology, including data collection, analysis, interpretation, and utilization.
• Research objectives should cover all aspects of the problem statement in a coherent way.
• They should be clearly stated using action verbs.

Frequently asked questions on research objectives

Q: what’s the difference between research objectives and aims 9.

A: Research aims are statements that reflect the broad goal(s) of the study and outline the general direction of the research. They are not specific but clearly define the focus of the study.

Example: This research aims to explore employee experiences of digital transformation in retail HR.

Research objectives focus on the action to be taken to achieve the aims. They make the aims more practical and should be specific and actionable.

Example: To observe the retail HR employees throughout the digital transformation.

Q: What are the examples of research objectives, both general and specific?

A: Here are a few examples of research objectives:

• To identify the antiviral chemical constituents in Mumbukura gitoniensis (general)
• To carry out solvent extraction of dried flowers of Mumbukura gitoniensis and isolate the constituents. (specific)
• To determine the antiviral activity of each of the isolated compounds. (specific)
• To examine the extent, range, and method of coral reef rehabilitation projects in five shallow reef areas adjacent to popular tourist destinations in the Philippines.
• To investigate species richness of mammal communities in five protected areas over the past 20 years.
• To evaluate the potential application of AI techniques for estimating best-corrected visual acuity from fundus photographs with and without ancillary information.
• To investigate whether sport influences psychological parameters in the personality of asthmatic children.

Q: How do I develop research objectives?

A: Developing research objectives begins with defining the problem statement clearly, as illustrated by Figure 1. Objectives specify how the research question will be answered and they determine what is to be measured to test the hypothesis.

Q: Are research objectives measurable?

A: The word “measurable” implies that something is quantifiable. In terms of research objectives, this means that the source and method of collecting data are identified and that all these aspects are feasible for the research. Some metrics can be created to measure your progress toward achieving your objectives.

Q: Can research objectives change during the study?

A: Revising research objectives during the study is acceptable in situations when the selected methodology is not progressing toward achieving the objective, or if there are challenges pertaining to resources, etc. One thing to keep in mind is the time and resources you would have to complete your research after revising the objectives. Thus, as long as your problem statement and hypotheses are unchanged, minor revisions to the research objectives are acceptable.

Q: What is the difference between research questions and research objectives? 10

Q: Are research objectives the same as hypotheses?

A: No, hypotheses are predictive theories that are expressed in general terms. Research objectives, which are more specific, are developed from hypotheses and aim to test them. A hypothesis can be tested using several methods and each method will have different objectives because the methodology to be used could be different. A hypothesis is developed based on observation and reasoning; it is a calculated prediction about why a particular phenomenon is occurring. To test this prediction, different research objectives are formulated. Here’s a simple example of both a research hypothesis and research objective.

Research hypothesis : Employees who arrive at work earlier are more productive.

Research objective : To assess whether employees who arrive at work earlier are more productive.

To summarize, research objectives are an important part of research studies and should be written clearly to effectively communicate your research. We hope this article has given you a brief insight into the importance of using clearly defined research objectives and how to formulate them.

• Farrugia P, Petrisor BA, Farrokhyar F, Bhandari M. Practical tips for surgical research: Research questions, hypotheses and objectives. Can J Surg. 2010 Aug;53(4):278-81.
• Abbadia J. How to write an introduction for a research paper. Mind the Graph website. Accessed June 14, 2023. https://mindthegraph.com/blog/how-to-write-an-introduction-for-a-research-paper/
• Writing a scientific paper: Introduction. UCI libraries website. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://guides.lib.uci.edu/c.php?g=334338&p=2249903
• Research objectives—Types, examples and writing guide. Researchmethod.net website. Accessed June 17, 2023. https://researchmethod.net/research-objectives/#:~:text=They%20provide%20a%20clear%20direction,track%20and%20achieve%20their%20goals .
• Bartle P. SMART Characteristics of good objectives. Community empowerment collective website. Accessed June 16, 2023. https://cec.vcn.bc.ca/cmp/modules/pd-smar.htm
• Research objectives. Studyprobe website. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://www.studyprobe.in/2022/08/research-objectives.html
• Corredor F. How to write objectives in a research paper. wikiHow website. Accessed June 18, 2023. https://www.wikihow.com/Write-Objectives-in-a-Research-Proposal
• Research objectives: Definition, types, characteristics, advantages. AccountingNest website. Accessed June 15, 2023. https://www.accountingnest.com/articles/research/research-objectives
• Phair D., Shaeffer A. Research aims, objectives & questions. GradCoach website. Accessed June 20, 2023. https://gradcoach.com/research-aims-objectives-questions/
• Understanding the difference between research questions and objectives. Accessed June 21, 2023. https://board.researchersjob.com/blog/research-questions-and-objectives

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The Ultimate Guide To S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Updated: Jul 9, 2024, 6:58am

Without concrete goals, you are essentially shooting in the dark trying to improve. S.M.A.R.T. goals are useful because they contain five aspects that help you focus and reevaluate goals as needed. This framework can be helpful for any team trying to practice effective project management . The five aspects of S.M.A.R.T. goals are that they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. We explore what S.M.A.R.T. goals are and how they can help your team.

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S.M.A.R.T. Goals Defined

A S.M.A.R.T. goal is defined by its five key aspects or elements. Without all aspects, you might be goal setting but not effectively creating a plan for success. Let’s look at the five elements of S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Specific goals have a desired outcome that is clearly understood. This might be a sales number or a product rollout goal. No matter what it is, the goal should be clearly articulated so that everyone is on the same page with the objective. Define what will be accomplished and the actions to be taken to accomplish the goal.

These are the numbers used with the goal. You need to have a quantifiable objective so that you can track progress. Define what data will be used to measure the goal and set a method for collection.

Goals need to be realistic to maintain the enthusiasm to try to achieve them. Setting lofty goals is good, but you may want to break them down into smaller, bite-sized chunks. If the goal is not doable, you may need to first ramp up resources to give yourself a shot at success. Ramping up resources would likely be its own S.M.A.R.T. goal.

Goals should be aligned with the mission of the company. Don’t set goals just as an exercise for something to do. One way to determine if the goal is relevant is to define the key benefit to the organization.

Goals should have a deadline. A goal without a deadline doesn’t do much. How can you identify success or failure? This is why S.M.A.R.T. goals set a final date. This doesn’t mean that all the work is done, but it means that you can evaluate the success of the endeavor and set new goals.

Benefits of S.M.A.R.T. Goals

There are a lot of benefits to setting S.M.A.R.T. goals, which is why you should consider adding them to your business toolbox. First, a S.M.A.R.T. goal helps to give you an objective. In doing this, you can identify strengths and weaknesses. Second, a S.M.A.R.T. goal provides motivation to succeed. When you know where the goal line is, you’ll want to work to meet or beat it. Third, a good S.M.A.R.T. goal, while attainable, will also be challenging and force you out of your comfort zone. Ultimately, the S.M.A.R.T. goal is a useful tool to remain focused in attaining a goal.

Drawbacks of S.M.A.R.T. Goals

As with anything, there is a negative side to S.M.A.R.T. goals that you need to consider. By focusing on the S.MA.R.T. goal, you may overlook other areas of the business. There may be other tasks that command attention but the focus on the goal could overshadow them and leave other things undone. In addition to that, the S.M.A.R.T. goal can put a lot of pressure on people to succeed. You don’t want to set goals that people can’t achieve . It’s important to manage expectations and keep goals attainable to avoid burnout and morale issues.

Examples of S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Professional Goal: “I’m going to increase sales”

• Specific: “I am going to learn about social media marketing and invest in a social media management platform to start growing an online audience of potential customers.”
• Measurable: “The goal is to increase sales by 30% within the next quarter.”
• Achievable: “I can afford a subscription to Zoho Social, and I have a moderately successful business that can handle a large increase in customer demand.”
• Relevant: “I want to grow my sales volume so that I can buy a new vehicle for my business.”
• Time-bound: “I will subscribe to Zoho Social tomorrow and go through all of their instructional material to learn how the platform works. I will build a social media strategy and deploy it in two weeks.”

Personal Goal: “I’m going to get in shape.”

• Specific: “I am going to get at least 30 minutes of exercise three days a week and cut my caloric intake by 25%.”
• Measurable: “My goal is to lose 15 pounds within the next three months.”
• Achievable: “I already have a rowing machine and can afford to buy fresh, nutritious food for myself and my family.”
• Relevant: “I want to live a healthier lifestyle so that I feel better physically and mentally in my daily life”
• Time-bound: “I will go to the grocery store tomorrow after work and buy healthy food for the week. I will use my rowing machine for 30 minutes before cooking dinner. I will use the rower three times per week.”

How To Follow Through on Your Goals

What’s the use of having a goal if you aren’t going to follow through with it? Once you have the goals, there are a few things that you can do to ensure you stay on track and achieve them.

Write Goals Down

Take the time to write down your goals and post them somewhere that you can see them. For team goals, place them somewhere everyone can see them. If it’s just for yourself, post a note next to your computer screen with the goals. Writing goals down brings them to life and makes them real. It’s also a good reminder of what you are working on.

Share Goals With Relevant People

Sharing goals sets the tone of accountability. Share goals with your team, your supervisor or a mentor. A shared goal is a goal that comes with a commitment to work hard to achieve the goal. Make sure that you share goals with a supportive person who will encourage you to press on when things get hard.

Regularly Evaluate Progress

Check in and see how you’re doing toward your goal. If the goal is a monthly goal, you may want to have daily or weekly check-ins to see what progress has been made. This helps you redirect energy and change course if something you are doing isn’t working and you aren’t making progress. It’s better to see this sooner than later while you can still adapt with enough time to succeed.

Celebrate Wins

When you succeed, celebrate. But don’t think that you need to wait until the entire goal is achieved before you give yourself a pat on the back. If you find yourself making excellent progress during a check-in, celebrate that too. The little successes help you maintain the energy to work toward the bigger goal.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is project management.

Project management uses processes, skills, tools and knowledge to complete a planned project and achieve its goals. It differs from general management because of the limited scope of a project, concrete deadlines and specific deliverables.

What does S.M.A.R.T. goal stand for?

Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Relevant. Time-Bound.

The acronym helps you remember the key aspects of a goal so that you have the best plan for success.

How do I write a goal plan?

Write a goal plan by starting with the specific goal to be measured. Establish a time frame or deadline in which you want to achieve the goal. Review what you write down to make sure it is both attainable and relevant to your overall objectives.

Why are S.M.A.R.T. goals used in performance reviews?

S.M.A.R.T. goals are a great way for managers and team members to get on the same page with expectations. Great managers work with team members to establish goals that fulfill the overall objective, but that the employee feels good about succeeding with.

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How to Write SMART Goals: SMART Goal Examples

While it’s always a good idea to put together project goals, the approach that you take to do so is important. Simply choosing goals because you think you should or those that are particularly difficult to track and measure don’t do a good job of keeping you on track throughout the project. This is why SMART goals are so effective.

What Are SMART Goals?

SMART is a mnemonic acronym that establishes criteria for ideal goals and objectives in a project . SMART stands for specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time-related. This means that a goal must meet these criteria to be considered a SMART goal.

SMART goals help project managers, business managers and any other types of team leaders define clear objectives that should be accomplished by their teams. Best of all, SMART goals can be used to measure the effectiveness of virtually any project or task.

Within that simple set of criteria is a guide to help teams be more productive, while always keeping goals in mind. Without goals, there is no focus, and without focus the chance of successfully completing a project is slim.

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SMART Goals Template

Use this free SMART Goals Template for Word to manage your projects better.

How to Write SMART Goals

Now that SMART is clearly defined, how do you write SMART goals? Well, it should be obvious now that the process starts with asking a lot of questions. Pose questions to yourself, your team and even stakeholders . The answers to these questions will whittle down your options and sharpen your strategy. From there, goals will become clear and attainable.

1. Make Your Goal Specific

Begin by defining what it is that you’re trying to achieve. Be specific. Ask the five Ws: who, what, why, where and which. For example:

• Who is going to be involved in achieving this goal?
• What project management tools will they need to accomplish it?
• Why is the goal important?
• Where will the work be located?
• Which resources are needed to do it?

The more you can focus on the specifics, the more achievable the goal.

2. Make Your Goal Measurable

In order for a goal to be SMART, it must be measurable, and to track your progress toward your goal, you have to know how to measure it. That keeps you on track and motivates you to finish on time. So, in order to be successful, you need to regularly monitor and assess your progress.

Also, you have to know how to tell when you’ve reached that goal, so as not to waste time once it’s already been achieved. Basically, you must set up metrics to measure your progress.  Project milestones can help break up a timeline if a project extends over some months.

3. Make Your Goal Achievable

There’s no point in having and measuring a goal that’s impossible to achieve. Therefore, another criterion for a SMART goal is discerning if the goal you’ve defined is realistic. You want to reach beyond what you think is possible (because nothing is achieved by playing it safe), but not so far that the project comes crashing down on top of you.

You must know your project resources well, and ask if this goal can be accomplished considering the constraints under which you’re working, which include scheduling and costs.

4. Make Your Goal Relevant

The goal is now defined, measurable and achievable, but is it relevant? A SMART goal has to be relevant, and that doesn’t mean just to you but should be aligned with the larger goals of the organization.

That means your goal, even after meeting all the prior criteria, must align with other relevant goals because success requires support and assistance from everyone on the project team . It must work in tandem with other parts of the project and the overall strategy of the organization.

This creates a whole new set of questions such as, is the goal worthwhile? Maybe the time isn’t right. Does it match other needs? Maybe you’re not the right person to lead this initiative, or maybe it’s not aligned with current economics or social trends. If it offers the right answers to these questions, then it’s relevant.

5. Make Your Goal Time-Bound

A SMART goal will always be time-related because goals often cannot be achieved without a deadline. A deadline serves as a great motivator and can provide context for you to recognize the various tasks necessary to reach that goal in the time allotted. Therefore, giving the goal time constraints helps keep you on track.

Naturally, you must answer questions, such as: when must the goal be achieved? Then get more specific; is that in six months, six weeks, six days? Without a time frame, you can’t devise a plan , and the goal will never be realized.

Free SMART Goals Template

Ready to make your own SMART goals? Download this free SMART goals template for Word and then read through the examples below for some inspiration.

5 SMART Goals Examples

It’s one thing to write about SMART goals and another thing to actually use them. That’s why we’re going to share five SMART goals examples to provide a fuller understanding of the concept.

1. Project Management SMART Goal Example

Scope creep is when more features are added to a project during the execution phase, which can have a negative impact on the project’s schedule and budget.

Specific: Speak with stakeholders and get them to give you all the requirements so that you’re not surprised down the line when they say they’ve forgotten something. Measurable: Be sure that each of the requirements they request can be measured. That is, each requirement should be tested and then checked off the list. Achievable: Look over the list of requirements. If some are not realistic then go back to the stakeholder and tell them why it’s not feasible considering the time and costs involved. Relevant: Again, look over the list of requirements you received from your stakeholders and make sure each is relevant to the product. If it’s not, it’s got to go. Time-related: Can the requirements requested be completed by the deadline? Will the requirement lead to overspending the budget ? Unless the requirement can be delivered on time and within budget it should be removed.

2. Business SMART Goal Example

Businesses are always trying to expand and add to their profits. One way to do this is by acquiring more clients.

Specific: Decide how many new clients to add to your business. One might not impact your bottom line and 100 will likely just lead to frustration. Find the number that’s right for your business. Measurable: Set up a metric to measure the success of your campaign to acquire new clients. This way you’ll be able to know if you’re in fact delivering on your goal or not. Achievable: Again, be realistic. How many resources can you allocate to this endeavor without negatively impacting your business? There’s a sweet spot and you want to hit it. Relevant: You’ll also want to make sure that the clients you’re wooing are a good fit for the business. If you partner with someone who isn’t it will not serve them or you. Time-related: Have a deadline, whether that’s adding x amount of new clients by the end of the quarter or the year. Then stick to it.

3. Manufacturing SMART Goal Example

A manufacturer wants to reduce breakdowns on their machines.

Specific: Decide if this is a factory-wide effort or if there are specific machines that are always breaking down and need special attention. Measurable: Have metrics to track machines’ performance to see if the measure used to reduce downtime due to mechanical failure is in fact working. Achievable: Maybe a factory-wide maintenance is unrealistic and will cut into production or perhaps you have the resources to address all machines on your production line. Determine what can be done without a negative impact on the business. Relevant: Look at the big picture and decide if a factory shutdown to replace or repair machines is necessary or if there can be a less disruptive approach, maybe over phases. Time-related: Define a project timeline . The last thing you want is to keep it open-ended.

4. Construction SMART Goal Example

A construction company has razor-thin profit margins because they budget projects with their profit included, but in executing the project they always end up spending more, which cuts into their profits.

Specific: Decide on what the goal is. It could be to find inefficiencies or to complete work faster. But whatever it is, make the goal specific. Measurable: Find the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you track your projects and identify those areas that are underperforming. Then as you implement solutions, you can measure whether they’re in fact working. Achievable: Don’t create a goal that you can’t keep. Maybe you want to only gain 10 percent more profitability. Whatever is achievable should be your goal. Relevant: You might have to revise your goal as you determine what is relevant to your company. If you change the project estimates , for example, it might make you less competitive in the market. Time-related: Set a realistic timeframe for achieving your goals. You don’t want it to be too long nor should it be too short. Find the deadline that will allow you to make the effort without turning it into an impossible task.

5. Marketing SMART Goal Example

Let’s say I wanted to increase my content output in the marketing department of my business. I would write my SMART goal like this, “Frank and Caroline (the content team) will need to work together to create 3 more eBooks per month, for the next 6 months.”

Specific: This is an important project because eBooks can collect emails, creating warm leads. Frank and Caroline will collaborate using Google Docs. They can use Meeting Room B on Tuesdays and Thursdays before 10 am. Measurable: It’s easy to measure if 3 eBooks are created each month. They simply have to compile a short report and submit it to the manager with links to each of the 3 new eBooks. Achievable: This is an aggressive goal, given how much work goes into an eBook, but it’s certainly attainable. Relevant: I’ll ensure this project stays relevant by keeping the eBook content related to the business. As a safeguard, I’ll make sure that a product expert approves the eBook topic before Frank and Caroline begin writing it. Time-related: By requiring that all 3 eBooks are done by the end of the month, this goal is time-related. Additionally, my content team knows they have to do this for 6 months, so they know exactly how many eBooks they need to create.

Be Flexible With Your SMART Goals if Needed

All this information will combine to help you define and reach SMART goals. But, remember, the SMART criteria is not chiseled in stone. It can be flexible and is open to revision as needed. So, monitor and evaluate key metrics as your project progresses to make sure that the goal you set is in fact smart!

Turn Goals Into Action With ProjectManager

Defining your goals and objectives before starting a project is smart. Determining that those goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-related is SMARTer! Once you’re ready to take action, using a project management tool is the smartest. ProjectManager  is an award-winning software that helps turn your goals and objectives into a reality.

Lay It Out on a Gantt Chart

Use the Gantt tool to add a duration to each task—once done, our software will populate a timeline for the entire project. You can link dependent tasks to avoid bottlenecks. Add priority and other tags to make the tasks easy to search and find. Then break the project into phases, which makes it easier to track, by adding milestones.

Track Your Progress with Reports

One-click reports get deeper into the data, which can be filtered and shared with stakeholders, who have a vested interest in seeing the project succeed. Smart goals and objectives need a smart project management tool.

To successfully use SMART as a method to d etermine the feasibility of your goals, you’ll need project management software that can help at every stage of your project. ProjectManager is an online tool that has planning, scheduling and reporting features that help managers create and complete SMART goals. See for yourself with this free 30-day trial.

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How to write SMART goals

It’s easier to succeed when you have clearly defined objectives that are based in reality.

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5-second summary

• Teams often fall short of meeting their goals due to a lack of consensus on the definition of success.
• SMART goals use a specific set of criteria to help ensure that objectives are clearly defined and attainable within a certain timeframe.
• Working through each step of creating a SMART goal can reveal instances where priorities and resources are out of alignment.

Meet Jane. She’s a product manager at a mid-sized tech company – let’s call it Techfirm, Inc. Jane has been tasked with increasing usage of Techfirm’s mobile app.

She knows she’ll need all hands on deck to make this happen, but when Jane has set team-wide goals in the past, they’ve quickly fallen off track. Nobody seemed to have a clear understanding of what success should look like; progress wasn’t monitored closely enough, and inevitably, that important objective slipped to the back burner (before toppling off the stove entirely).

That’s why, this time around, Jane plans to leverage SMART goals for setting an action plan and staying the course.

Want to get started right now?

Use our template to define the different components of your SMART goal.

What are SMART goals?

How to harness the power of professional development goals

The SMART in SMART goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Defining these parameters as they pertain to your goal helps ensure that your objectives are attainable within a certain time frame. This approach eliminates generalities and guesswork, sets a clear timeline, and makes it easier to track progress and identify missed milestones.

An example of a SMART-goal statement might look like this: Our goal is to [quantifiable objective] by [timeframe or deadline]. [Key players or teams] will accomplish this goal by [what steps you’ll take to achieve the goal]. Accomplishing this goal will [result or benefit].

Let’s use Jane’s objective to work through each component.

S: Specific

In order for a goal to be effective, it needs to be specific. A specific goal answers questions like:

• What needs to be accomplished?
• Who’s responsible for it?
• What steps need to be taken to achieve it?

Thinking through these questions helps get to the heart of what you’re aiming for. Here’s an example of a specific goal Jane might come up with:

Grow the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns.

M: Measurable

Specificity is a solid start, but quantifying your goals (that is, making sure they’re measurable) makes it easier to track progress and know when you’ve reached the finish line.

Jane and her product team want to grow the number of their mobile app users – but by how much? If they get even one new signup, that’s technically positive growth – so does that mean they’re done? Same goes for their strategy – how many platforms will they advertise on? 

To make this SMART objective more impactful, Jane should incorporate measurable, trackable benchmarks.

Increase the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns for four social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

A: Achievable

This is the point in the process when you give yourself a serious reality check. Goals should be realistic –  not  pedestals from which you inevitably tumble. Ask yourself: is your objective something your team can reasonably accomplish?

Jane might look at her goal and realize that, given her small team and their heavy workload, creating ad campaigns for four social platforms might be biting off more than they can chew. She decides to scale back to the three social networks where she’s most likely to find new clients.

Increase the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns for three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Safeguarding the achievability of your goal is much easier when you’re the one setting it. However, that’s not always the case. When goals are handed down from elsewhere, make sure to communicate any restraints you may be working under. Even if you can’t shift the end goal, at least you can make your position (and any potential roadblocks) known up-front.

R: Relevant

Don’t underestimate the outsized impact of short-term goals

Here’s where you need to think about the big picture. Why are you setting the goal that you’re setting? Jane knows that the app is a huge driver of customer loyalty, and that an uptick in their app usage could mean big things for the company’s bottom-line revenue goals. Now she revises her statement to reflect that context.

Grow the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns for three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Because mobile users tend to use our product longer, growing our app usage will ultimately increase profitability.

T: Time-bound

To properly measure success, you and your team need to be on the same page about when a goal has been reached. What’s your time horizon? When will the team start creating and implementing the tasks they’ve identified? When will they finish?

SMART goals should have time-related parameters built in, so everybody knows how to stay on track within a designated time frame.

When Jane incorporates those dates, her SMART goal is complete.

Grow the number of monthly users of Techfirm’s mobile app by 1,000 within Q1 of 2022. This will be accomplished by optimizing our app-store listing and creating targeted social media campaigns, which will begin running in February 2022, on three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Since mobile is our primary point of conversion for paid-customer signups, growing our app usage will ultimately increase sales.

Knowing how to set goals using the SMART framework can help you succeed in setting and attaining goals, no matter how large or small.

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• Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Research Objectives | Definition & Examples

Published on July 12, 2022 by Eoghan Ryan . Revised on November 20, 2023.

Research objectives describe what your research is trying to achieve and explain why you are pursuing it. They summarize the approach and purpose of your project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement . They should:

• Establish the scope and depth of your project
• Contribute to your research design
• Indicate how your project will contribute to existing knowledge

Table of contents

What is a research objective, why are research objectives important, how to write research aims and objectives, smart research objectives, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research objectives.

Research objectives describe what your research project intends to accomplish. They should guide every step of the research process , including how you collect data , build your argument , and develop your conclusions .

Your research objectives may evolve slightly as your research progresses, but they should always line up with the research carried out and the actual content of your paper.

Research aims

A distinction is often made between research objectives and research aims.

A research aim typically refers to a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear at the end of your problem statement, before your research objectives.

Your research objectives are more specific than your research aim and indicate the particular focus and approach of your project. Though you will only have one research aim, you will likely have several research objectives.

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Research objectives are important because they:

• Establish the scope and depth of your project: This helps you avoid unnecessary research. It also means that your research methods and conclusions can easily be evaluated .
• Contribute to your research design: When you know what your objectives are, you have a clearer idea of what methods are most appropriate for your research.
• Indicate how your project will contribute to extant research: They allow you to display your knowledge of up-to-date research, employ or build on current research methods, and attempt to contribute to recent debates.

Once you’ve established a research problem you want to address, you need to decide how you will address it. This is where your research aim and objectives come in.

Step 1: Decide on a general aim

Your research aim should reflect your research problem and should be relatively broad.

Step 2: Decide on specific objectives

Break down your aim into a limited number of steps that will help you resolve your research problem. What specific aspects of the problem do you want to examine or understand?

Step 3: Formulate your aims and objectives

Once you’ve established your research aim and objectives, you need to explain them clearly and concisely to the reader.

You’ll lay out your aims and objectives at the end of your problem statement, which appears in your introduction. Frame them as clear declarative statements, and use appropriate verbs to accurately characterize the work that you will carry out.

The acronym “SMART” is commonly used in relation to research objectives. It states that your objectives should be:

• Specific: Make sure your objectives aren’t overly vague. Your research needs to be clearly defined in order to get useful results.
• Measurable: Know how you’ll measure whether your objectives have been achieved.
• Achievable: Your objectives may be challenging, but they should be feasible. Make sure that relevant groundwork has been done on your topic or that relevant primary or secondary sources exist. Also ensure that you have access to relevant research facilities (labs, library resources , research databases , etc.).
• Relevant: Make sure that they directly address the research problem you want to work on and that they contribute to the current state of research in your field.
• Time-based: Set clear deadlines for objectives to ensure that the project stays on track.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Research objectives describe what you intend your research project to accomplish.

They summarize the approach and purpose of the project and help to focus your research.

Your objectives should appear in the introduction of your research paper , at the end of your problem statement .

Your research objectives indicate how you’ll try to address your research problem and should be specific:

Once you’ve decided on your research objectives , you need to explain them in your paper, at the end of your problem statement .

Keep your research objectives clear and concise, and use appropriate verbs to accurately convey the work that you will carry out for each one.

I will compare …

A research aim is a broad statement indicating the general purpose of your research project. It should appear in your introduction at the end of your problem statement , before your research objectives.

Research objectives are more specific than your research aim. They indicate the specific ways you’ll address the overarching aim.

Scope of research is determined at the beginning of your research process , prior to the data collection stage. Sometimes called “scope of study,” your scope delineates what will and will not be covered in your project. It helps you focus your work and your time, ensuring that you’ll be able to achieve your goals and outcomes.

Defining a scope can be very useful in any research project, from a research proposal to a thesis or dissertation . A scope is needed for all types of research: quantitative , qualitative , and mixed methods .

To define your scope of research, consider the following:

• Budget constraints or any specifics of grant funding
• Your proposed timeline and duration
• Specifics about your population of study, your proposed sample size , and the research methodology you’ll pursue
• Any inclusion and exclusion criteria
• Any anticipated control , extraneous , or confounding variables that could bias your research if not accounted for properly.

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What are SMART goals? Examples and templates

Vague goals that lack clarity are often left undone, even if they have great potential. Transform fuzzy objectives into attainable goals with the SMART goals framework. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound. In this article, we'll dive into why each element of the SMART goals acronym is essential and how to apply them to your own goals.

But hitting an ambitious goal isn’t just about reaching for the stars—you also need a path to get there. That’s where SMART goal setting comes in. With SMART, you can make sure every goal—from project goals all the way to larger company objectives—has everything you need to achieve it. Here’s how.

What are SMART goals?

So, what are SMART goals? Fundamentally, SMART goals are a way of setting objectives that are clear, trackable, and achievable. The SMART goals acronym stands for five crucial qualities your goals should have: 

Measurable 

Achievable 

When you're deliberating the meaning of SMART goals, think of them as a tool to transform lofty resolutions into a concrete roadmap. The SMART goals acronym can help you build a blueprint for success in personal and professional settings alike.

How to write SMART goals

Writing SMART goals is all about breaking down your objectives into smaller, more manageable components that are easy to track and achieve. Here's a simple step-by-step guide to make the goal-setting process a breeze.

Keep in mind that you’re setting your SMART goal to attain a specific objective—not a broad one. You don’t just want any initiative to succeed; you want your specific project to succeed. To make sure you can achieve them, make sure your goals are specific to what you’re working on.

For example, instead of creating a goal to raise more money, you might create a goal to raise $20,000 by the end of the year. This is much more specific and gives you a roadmap to work off of. In this case, you can break down how much you need to raise each day to hit your goal and then create an action plan that enables you to hit that number every day.

The “M” in SMART stands for measurable, which helps you evaluate the success or failure of your project. Your goals should have some sort of objective way to measure them—whether that’s a deadline, a number, a percent change, or some other measurable element.

One way to do this is with benchmarks. Benchmarks show you what’s “normal” for specific, recurring scenarios in your company, so you know what to expect. Using standardized benchmarks, you can set more relevant goals that are easier to measure. For example, let’s say you have a benchmark showing that you have three new marketing campaigns each year to help you hit key performance indicators . You can then use that benchmark to set measurable goals to track progress for both the launches and their related KPIs.

You don’t want your goals to be easy to achieve, but you also want to make sure you’re setting goals that you could, conceivably, hit. Achievable says that your goals shouldn't be totally outside the realm of possibility. Ask yourself this question: Is the goal within your project scope ? If not, it’s not Achievable.

For example, let’s say you want to learn to speak Spanish in order to be competitive in your field. If you’ve never spoken a word of Spanish before, you can’t expect to be fluent by next month. That simply isn’t an achievable goal. However, you could set a goal to learn from your foreign language app for 20 minutes every day. By establishing a consistent practice, you can set a more achievable goal.

What about stretch goals—are those achievable?

Stretch goals are goals that are purposefully challenging. For example, if you usually get 30,000 monthly visitors to your website, a stretch goal would be to get 50,000 monthly visitors. That’s a big increase! But this stretch goal is still within the realm of possibility. Make sure you make your stretch goals ambitious, not impossible—like aiming to go from 30,000 monthly visitors to 300,000 monthly visitors, for example.

The “A” and “R” of SMART are closely related. In addition to setting attainable goals, you also want to set Realistic ones. For example, maybe a goal is achievable, but getting there would require every team member to work overtime for six weeks straight. Even though it might be an achievable goal, it’s not a realistic one. Make sure yours is both by creating a clear resource management plan .

Using our attainable goal example of learning to speak Spanish, the goal of setting 20 minutes aside each day to practice Spanish is both realistic and achievable. On the other hand, a goal to practice speaking Spanish for two hours every day is probably not realistic for most working adults, even though it’s technically achievable.

Your SMART goal should have an end date. Without a time limit, your project could drag on, have unclear success metrics , and suffer from scope creep . Deadlines provide a sense of urgency so that short-term tasks don’t drag into long-term goals unnecessarily. If you haven’t already, make sure you outline a clear project timeline .

Deadlines are crucial to implementing goals, since they pretty much force you to take action. If you want to have more focus time at work, you can decide to set a goal to only check your email for 30 minutes every day. But without a deadline, it’s easy to brush it off. Imagine instead if you set a goal to only check your email for 30 minutes every day for one week—now, it starts to feel more attainable.

SMART goals pros and cons

Making sure your important goals have all of the SMART components might be more time-consuming than setting regular goals, but the value you get from SMART goals outweighs the additional time spent on the goal-setting process. Goals shouldn’t be something you set and forget—they’re a key part of your project planning process. When setting SMART goals, here’s what you and your team can expect.

Pros of SMART goals

Clear communication and alignment. When your project team knows exactly what they’re working towards, they’re more motivated and aligned as a team. Team members who know how their individual work contributes to broader company goals are 2X as motivated as their counterparts. Setting and sharing SMART goals can help you boost your entire team’s motivation.

Clarity towards project success. Have you ever gotten to the end of a project and not really known if you hit your project goals or not? SMART goals help you set clear goals, so you can avoid vague or confusing goal language.

Clear roadmap and finish line. With SMART goals, you know exactly what you want to achieve and when you expect to achieve it. You’ve verified that these goals are realistic and achievable. And you know you’ll be able to measure them to see if you hit them or not.

Trackable metrics. When you finish your project, SMART goals help you evaluate its success. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t achieve it. In fact, at Asana, we aim to hit about 70% of our goals. That way, we know we’re setting challenging—but possible—goals. Whether you hit your goal or not, SMART goals can help you evaluate your goal, and you can learn from that.

Effective resource allocation. SMART goals make it easier for managers to distribute necessary resources efficiently, whether that's staff, budget, or even time.

Motivation and career development. When goals are achievable and relevant, it boosts team morale. It also creates opportunities for individual career development, as team members may need to acquire a new skill to meet their objectives.

Cons of SMART Goals

Oversimplification. Although the SMART goal framework can be incredibly effective for clarifying objectives, it may also lead to the oversimplification of more intricate, multilayered goals. If your goal is complicated, consider breaking it down into smaller sub-goals before using the SMART framework.

Short-term focus. The emphasis on time-based objectives might discourage more visionary planning, especially around the long-term mission of your business. If this applies to your situation, try creating a vision statement instead. 

Potential to hinder creativity. SMART goals can box you in. Their strict guidelines make you zero in on specific tasks, leaving little room for unexpected, game-changing ideas.

Possibility for a narrow focus. Adopting a SMART objectives approach could lead to tunnel vision, causing team members to lose sight of the organization's broader strategic goals. To avoid this, make sure to connect your SMART goals back to larger organizational objectives —so it’s clear why they matter and how they’re contributing to business success. 

Resource intensive. Smaller teams might feel a bit overwhelmed by the need for measurable outcomes. This is because tracking those metrics often requires investing time and money in specialized analytics tools. 

5 SMART goals examples

Ready to get started? Before you write your own, take a look at these five examples of SMART goals to see how each one aligns with the SMART criteria.

1.  Business goal

Example: Produce at least three different types of large-scale marketing assets (e.g. ebook, webinar, videos, sales one- or two-pagers) per month for Q1.

Why it’s SMART: This business goal is specific (large-scale marketing assets) , measurable (three different types) , achievable and realistic (this depends on how many project team members there are, but we can assume there are enough to cover the three assets per month), and time-bound (per month for Q1) .

2. Team goal

Example: The product team will partner on five cross-functional projects focused on usability testing, customer surveys, customer marketing, or research and development during the first half of FY22.

Why it’s SMART: This goal is specific (projects focused on usability testing, customer surveys, customer marketing, or research and development) , measurable (five cross-functional projects) , achievable (five projects in six months), realistic (the project spans the entire product team), and time-bound (during the first half of FY22) .

3. Professional goal

Example: During 2021, I will develop my management skills through mentorship, with at least two mentees from either our company Employee Resource Groups or my alumni network.

Why it’s SMART: This goal is specific (management skills through mentorship) , measurable (at least two mentees) , achievable and realistic (this person has given themselves two different avenues through which to find mentees), and time-bound (during 2021) .

4. Personal goal

Example: I will train to run the March San Diego half marathon in less than two hours.

Why it’s SMART: This goal is specific (San Diego half marathon) , measurable (in less than two hours) , achievable (two hours is an ambitious but doable pace for most runners with proper training), realistic (this person has established they will train in preparation for the half marathon), and time-bound (March) .

5. Nonprofit goal

Example: We will provide 100 hours of free tutoring for middle school students in math and history during the month of February.

Why it’s SMART: This goal is specific (tutoring for middle school students in math and history) , measurable (100 hours) , achievable and realistic (depending on the amount of volunteers the nonprofit has), and time-bound (during the month of February) .

6 steps to make your goal SMART

When you’re ready to set your own SMART goal, kick things off by jotting down your project objective in a sentence or two. Then fine-tune it with each of the five SMART attributes. 

To make the goal-setting process smoother, you can use this SMART goals template to get some hands-on practice in setting your SMART objectives.

1. Initial goal:   Write down whatever your initial goal is. Don’t worry about it not being completely SMART—we’ll get to that later in the template.

Example: I want to improve our company brand on social media.

2. Make it Specific:   Does your goal define exactly what you want to do? If not, re-work the language to make it specific to your particular project.

Example, continued: Improve our company brand on Instagram with company-specific hashtags.

3. Make it Measurable:   Have you established how you’ll measure your goal once your project is complete? If not, add a way to measure success or failure at the end of your project.

Example, continued: Develop company-specific hashtags to generate 1,000 new Instagram followers.

4. Make it Achievable:   Is your goal something you can achieve, given your project scope? Make sure this specific goal falls within your project capabilities.

Example, continued: Develop and use company-specific hashtags, in conjunction with popular hashtags in our industry, to generate 1,000 new Instagram followers.

5. Make it Realistic:   Can your project team reasonably hit your goal? Even if it’s a stretch goal, make sure this is something you can accomplish with your resources.

Example, continued: Post once daily on Instagram, and ensure every post has a mixture of company-specific hashtags and popular hashtags in our industry in order to generate 1,000 new Instagram followers.

6. Make it Time-bound:   When will you achieve your goal? Make sure you clarify your target date or time frame in your SMART goal.

Example, continued: Post every workday on Instagram for the first half of FY22. Ensure every post has a mixture of company-specific hashtags and popular hashtags in our industry in order to generate 1,000 new Instagram followers by June 30th.

What to do after creating your SMART goals

Do you track your goals in emails, meetings, or spreadsheets? If so, you’re not alone. According to the Asana Goals Report , 53% of businesses track their goals via email, 36% track them in spreadsheets, and 31% track them in in-person meetings.

The challenge with tracking your goals is finding a way to connect your goals with your team’s daily work. You’ve taken all of this time to create a SMART goal—keeping it front of mind can help you make sure you achieve it. At Asana, we believe goals should be closely connected to the work they’re, well, connected to. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Share your SMART goals with project stakeholders and team members

At the start of the project, make sure you surface your SMART goals to everyone involved in the work. Your SMART goals should guide your whole team as you work on project deliverables, so you know exactly whether or not you hit your project objectives.

The best way to do that is with a work management tool like Asana. That way, your team has a central source of truth with all information in the same place—from your daily work all the way to your project’s goals. Instead of hiding your goals in docs, decks, and other hard-to-find places, connect them to your daily work so everyone is motivated, focused, and on the same page.

2. Check in on progress regularly

In addition to sharing your SMART goals with your team at the beginning of your project, make sure you periodically measure the progress you’ve made towards your goal. You don’t want to work on the project and then find, at the very end of the work, that you’ve missed your goals. You’ve worked hard to set specific, measurable goals for a reason—you can use them as your north star, and course correct during your project if necessary.

The best way to regularly check in on your SMART goals is to send weekly project status updates . Status updates are a great way for you to highlight the important work your team did, any upcoming milestones, and whether or not you’re on track.

3. Evaluate your success

SMART goals bring clarity to your goal-setting process—so you can gauge exactly whether or not you hit your project goals. If you did, it’s time to celebrate! And even if you didn’t, having such clear goals—and checking in on your goals regularly—can help you best identify what went wrong and where you can do better next time.

Remember, not hitting your goals doesn’t mean your project was a total failure. You may have purposefully set a stretch goal to challenge yourself or your team. Even if you didn’t set a stretch goal, it’s more important to calmly evaluate why you missed your target rather than pretend it didn’t happen. That way, you can learn from your mistakes and bring those learnings with you the next time you set SMART goals.

Set smarter goals

SMART goals can help your team succeed by bringing clarity into the goal-setting and project management processes. When your team has clarity and is moving in the same direction, they’re more likely to be motivated and to know what work to prioritize.

Visualizing and tracking your goals both makes them easier to measure and achieve. In Asana, you can set, track, and report on your SMART goals all in one space. With the ability to connect with everyone on your team and share with stakeholders, you can coordinate everything you need to achieve your most ambitious goals.

SMART goals FAQ

What does the smart goals acronym stand for.

The SMART goals acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. George T. Doran popularized this framework, which offers a methodical approach to setting goal-specific objectives. By following the SMART acronym, you're more likely to set specific goals that are both effective and achievable.

What are the 5 SMART goals

The 5 SMART goals refer to the five criteria that any SMART objective should meet. These are:

Specific: Clearly defined objectives that spell out what you aim to achieve.

Measurable: Quantifiable goals that allow you to track your progress.

Attainable: Goals that are challenging yet achievable, ensuring you're not setting yourself up for failure.

Relevant: Objectives that align with your broader aims and values.

Time-bound: Goals that come with a deadline promote effective time management.

How do I write a SMART goal?

To write a SMART goal, begin by defining what you specifically want to accomplish. Next, determine how you'll measure success and ensure that your objective is attainable. Make sure the goal is relevant to your broader life or career ambitions. Finally, add a timeframe to create a sense of urgency. A well-crafted SMART goal might look like this: "I want to increase my LinkedIn network by 200 connections within the next three months."

What are the best SMART goals?

The best SMART goals are those that are closely aligned with your own or your organization's broader aims, serving as stepping stones toward your ultimate goal. They should challenge you while still being achievable. These goals should be easily measurable and promote effective time management, allowing you to allocate resources wisely. For example, if career development is a priority, an excellent SMART goal could be "to complete an advanced course in digital marketing within the next six months."

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Being smart about writing SMART objectives

Affiliations.

• 1 University of North Dakota, School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Center for Rural Health Evaluation, 250 Centennial Dr. Stop 8138, Grand Forks, ND 58202-8138, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 2 University of North Dakota, School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Center for Rural Health Evaluation, 250 Centennial Dr. Stop 8138, Grand Forks, ND 58202-8138, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 28056403
• DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.12.009

This article challenges the conventional wisdom in mainstream evaluation regarding the process for developing specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives. The article notes several advantages of mainstreaming the SMART method including program capacity building and being able to independently monitor progress toward process and outcome objectives. It is argued the one size fits all approach for writing SMART objectives is misleading. The context in which the evaluation is conducted is a key deciding factor in how and when the SMART criteria should be applied. Without an appreciation of the evaluation context, mainstream users may be developing objectives that are far from smart. A case example is presented demonstrating a situation where a stepwise, rather than simultaneous application of the SMART criteria was necessary. Learning from this case, recommendations are forwarded for adjusting how SMART criteria should be presented in mainstream evaluation manuals/guides.

Keywords: Evaluation guidance; Mainstreaming; Objective development; SMART objectives.

Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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