Define your Project Objectives

3 min readMar 23, 2023

Introduction

Hi there👋, I am Amik, a Product Management enthusiast. Currently, I am working as a Product Manager at two Indonesian startups. I just re-subscribed to LinkedIn Premium to learn about Project Management, because in my last ivew, I failed to answer the questions haha stupid me😪! So, here I am, happy to share my knowledge. So, let’s enjoy the ride, shall we?😎

So, you already define your project goal, and now you can flesh it out by identifying more detailed objectives. Objectives help define the project scope, the approach you choose, and the success criteria you have to meet.

Here are some types of objectives…

Business Objectives

This objective is to support your organization’s goals. For instance, increase market share to 25% by the end of Q2 2023 or provide world-class healthcare.

Financial Objectives

Financial objectives are all about money. For instance, increasing revenue by 15% or cutting costs by 10%.

Quality Objectives

These objectives specify how good results need to be. For instance, to decrease staph infections by 80% or decrease readmittance by 75%.

Technical Objectives

These are similar to technical specifications for equipment. For example, the hospital might want mobile equipment that can be used in the hospital, in an ambulance, or at a remote emergency site.

Performance Objectives

Your project might need to finish by a specific date. For example, the hospital has to use government grants before they expire.

Now, let’s talk about the best practices for documenting objectives. One way to define clear objectives is to use SMART criteria.

Specific objectives

Specific objectives are clear so there’s no misunderstanding about what you’re supposed to achieve. For instance, increase revenue by 15% at the end of Q2 2023. If your objectives are vague, you probably won’t get what the project customer had in mind.

Measurable objectives

These objectives make it easy to see whether or not they have been achieved. For instance, the hospital can measure the decrease in readmittance or revenue increase. With qualitative measures, you might use survey responses such as a minimum patient satisfaction rating of four stars.

Achievable or Realistic objectives

These objectives spell out what you can do with the resources available. Challenging objectives can motivate people but your team might give up if they think the objectives are impossible.

Time-related objectives

These objectives identify when they need to be achieved. You need to set a clear target date. For instance, government grants must be used by December 31st, 2023.

Now that the project goal and objectives are identified, you work with the appropriate stakeholders to perform a benefits analysis. That way you can validate that the project aligns with the organization’s mission and strategy and delivers the expected value to the business. There are usually multiple ways to achieve the project goal and objectives. That is, strategies for solving the problem. Typically, choosing a strategy is work for senior project managers. However, choosing a strategy begins with a small group of people familiar with the project to brainstorm possible strategies. Then they evaluate how well each strategy satisfies the project objectives. Project objectives help flesh out the project goal and define project scope, approach, and success criteria.