Why this matters
I don’t know a single person who doesn’t have a story for being told to do something, then after they do it, be asked why they worked on that and not something else.
This is what goal-setting is for: to clearly define priorities and for you to be able to point to a single reference to know what success looks like for you.
In a lot of cases, quarterly goals make the most sense. Mostly because monthly is just too short of a window to say you have goal-level work.
And you need them written down
With manager agreement on paper, so you have a reference point for what you and your manager agreed you were going to do.
There are systems and tools out there to track this:
- CEO-S software. For this to be a good option, your manager needs to be willing to set department-level goals and require everyone on their team to have goals. This software was designed for entire organizations, so it’s too much if you work on a smaller team.
- Spreadsheets or Docs. This isn’t necessarily the best option, but the key is writing them down.
- Todoist. Todoist is a fine todo tool, naturally. I don’t really recommend it for goals. Goals aren’t todos. But it might be better for you than just a spreadsheet.
The most important thing is a clear measurement of success. No ambiguity, no way for you to interpret success as x but your manager interprets success as y.
When to push back
Like job descriptions, goals are about what need to get done, what the priorities and what success looks like. Goals shouldn’t define how you’re going to achieve them. You don’t know yet. Goals need to focus on the outcome, not the input (the work you did toward the goal).
If your boss likes the idea of you having goals and then decides to email you a long doc with what they think your goals are, you either want to push back, or look for another job. This needs to be a conversation; you need to be able to have input here.
Your goals are the bigger pieces of work you’re going to deliver, not all the little things. Emailing a weekly report to your boss isn’t a goal; that’s just ongoing work.
Avoid copy-pasting from Claude or Chat on what your goals are. Ideally, a goals conversation with your manager is going to drive both of you to actually think about what’s important. It shouldn’t be arbitrary; you’re not checking a box, just to say you have goals. You’re asking your manager to create agreement and shared understanding of what your success looks like.