COEPD – Center of Excellence for Professional Development Happy Learning
The first step in setting project goals is to identify where we are and where we want to be. There should be a good clarity on what are the problems and challenges faced using the current system and what are your expectations from the desired future system. This practice is known as Gap analysis which must be done to understand where we are and where we want to be in future in order to identify and set realistic goals.
The goals set should be SMART-specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and traceable and should match with the team’s strength and capabilities.
The manager should make the team understand the relevance and importance of goals and always motivate them in the right direction.
Continuous learnings and knowledge updates on the domain should be there to set smart goals.
Key elements in goals setting are-
-Identify the Goals
-Identify the value additions, benefits and outcomes of the goals set
-Gap analysis on the present and desired future state after achieving the goals
-Set goals as per the team strengths and capabilities
-Goals set should be realistic and traceable
-Goals set are divided into smaller parts and milestones should be set to achieve them.
Once the Goals are set, convert them into action plans by defining the process to be followed to achieve them, set the timelines and assign tasks to the relevant team members.
Last step in goal setting is to monitor the project execution and track the performance of the project and make sure the project is on the right track.
Monitoring the progress of goals is of utmost importance post goal setting as without monitoring it , we won’t be able to understand where we are heading and whether we are heading in the right direction.
Goals monitoring is done by keeping a daily record of all resources activities and the task performed by them on a daily basis.
Goals should be broken down into smaller parts and daily, weekly and monthly milestones should be set in order to track their progress.
The resources should be allocated the roles and responsibility and they need to submit their timesheets for their work done on a daily basis at the end of the day.
Morning meeting or hurdle should be there wherein the resources can share their success stories and challenges faced by them in the previous day and then seniors need to guide on the corrective measures for getting the things on track.
Checking the set milestones completion on a daily, weekly and monthly basis will give the clarity on project’s progress to the project managers.
Continuous learning sessions and team motivation activities should be performed by the managers in order to keep the team motivated.
Project managers should keep the progress reports and resource wise contributions documented so that it can be referred to whenever needed by senior management.
Project managers can also use a calendar or planner to get notifications once the weekly or monthly milestone is nearby to keep a close watch and download the same to the team.
Project managers should review their team members and should have a one on one discussion weekly once to understand individual viewpoints and feedback about the project’s progress and challenges faced ,if any.
