STUPID Goals
When you are tired of being SMART
Ever Heard of George T. Doran? Me neither.
SMART Goals are a business acronym used in personnel and project management. The acronym SMART was coined by George T. Doran in the 1981 issue of Management Review titled, There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives. Doran did not get into the weeds about what was the definition of a goal v. objective. He noted that it depended on the organization. He tended to use the term objective in the article. His original definition is as follows:
- Specific — target a specific area for improvement.
- Measurable — quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.
- Assignable — specify who will do it.
- Realistic — state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.
- Time-related — specify when the result(s) can be achieved.
The original article is a little over one page in length and the focus is to provide an easily remembered acronym for managers to write meaningful goals and objectives. That was it. How did this simple concept become so complicated?
I believe that many of the business, education, and personal improvement gurus did not read the original article beyond the acronym. Doran list several…
