Developing clear project goals and deliverables

Goals are high level statements that provide overall context for what the project is trying to achieve and should align to business goals. Objectives are lower-level statements that describe the specific, tangible products and deliverables that the project will deliver.

Goals articulate the vision and purpose, and objectives are a succinct way of communicating the outcomes along the way and provide the criteria for evaluation.

Goals need to align with business goals and the project proposal.

For example, your goal might be: To create value for supply chain partners by aligning our services with supplier needs.

The objectives may be:

• Upgrade the supplier website to attract a 50% increase in traffic a within the next year
• Design and deliver product knowledge learning for 50 suppliers within the next six months.

Objectives should be SMART:

Specific: They should be tangible.
Measurable: They should provide an easy way to measure success.
Achievable: They should be within the scope of the project.
Realistic: They should be doable with the project resources.
Timed: They should include a timeframe.