{"id":1415,"date":"2017-05-19T13:07:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T20:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b-spoke.net\/?p=1415"},"modified":"2026-06-29T22:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:00:29","slug":"son-of-whats-the-objective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/2017\/05\/19\/son-of-whats-the-objective\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s the Objective II: Of Projects and Process"},"content":{"rendered":"
A Five Minute Read<\/h6>\n

In this post<\/a>, I wrote about using \"processes\"<\/a>objectives to free up our brains to better respond to customer needs and give employees more opportunities to act creatively and achieve the operation\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

\"projects\"<\/a>It\u2019s not just \u201cpeople leaders\u201d that gain from defining measurable results and benefits before taking Action. Project Managers and Business Process Managers profit just as much \u2013 more, probably \u2013 from asking themselves, \u201cWhat Is Your Objective\u201d?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Projects<\/h4>\n

Setting clear objectives at the start of a project is perhaps the most crucial, and most often overlooked, step. Defining and agreeing on clear results is like getting the answers to the final in advance. If the PM and the sponsor concur on the measures of success before beginning, the project team can focus its energies on actually accomplishing its goals and less on politics. There\u2019s no end-of-project debate.<\/p>\n

Clear objectives help maintain scope. When defining work, or when others want to include certain activities in a project, good project managers ask: \u201cWhat\u2019s your objective?\u201d<\/p>\n

If the proposed task\u2019s objectives don\u2019t match the project\u2019s (already-stipulated) objectives, then it doesn\u2019t belong in the project. (A corollary question: \u201cHow does this work accomplish the project\u2019s objectives?\u201d serves the same purpose).<\/p>\n

Good objectives focus on the reasons behind <\/em>doing the project, not re-stating the project (see \u201cThe Cocktail Party Test\u201d, below) or dictating how<\/em> you will do it. They should answer the question, \u201cWhy are we doing this project? What do we hope to achieve?\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Test for Good Project Objectives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I call this the \u201cCocktail Party Test.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Presume you\u2019re at a cocktail party hosted by your significant other\u2019s boss. You need to be impressive \u2013 not just \"\"to come across as a Man of Action, but also so your partner looks smart for choosing you. Between bacon-wrapped scallops, you\u2019re asked an innocent question such as, \u201cWhat are you working on?\u201d and its \u201cHm. Why are you doing that?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

If you can answer \u201cWhy are you doing that?\u201d intelligently and succinctly, you probably have decent objectives. If your reply is vague or chases its own tail, well, you\u2019ll be embarrassed both at the party and when you ask for your bonus.<\/p>\n

For instance, if your project charter is \u201cInstall Dynamic Cutter Heads on Frangible Boundaries\u201d and you are asked, \u201cOh! Why are you doing that?\u201d, you wouldn\u2019t answer \u201cBecause we want to install dynamic cutter heads.\u201d That\u2019s what<\/u> you\u2019re doing, not why<\/u> you\u2019re doing it. Restating the project does not a good objective make.<\/p>\n

Likewise, you wouldn\u2019t answer, \u201cBecause we want to pour 24 concrete piers and mount \u2018black\u2019 carbon rebar\u201d. That\u2019s how<\/u> you\u2019re doing the work.<\/p>\n

You would answer with the benefits of the project. \u201cBecause we want to be able to align cutting pressure with the brittleness of the ground\u201d, \u201cBecause we want to improve our load efficiency by 20 percent\u201d, etc. Those<\/em> are the objectives. Now you\u2019ve passed the Cocktail Party Test.<\/p>\n

In Process<\/h4>\n

Setting clear objectives \u2013 and communicating them – in business process improvement is just as critical. The design team needs to understand what the process is trying to accomplish, in terms of results,<\/u> not outputs<\/u>. By focusing on \u201cresults\u201d or \u201cbenefits\u201d, the team has greater possibilities at their disposal.<\/p>\n

Dictating an output at the start means the process will deliver, well, that output. (Think about a report-generating process. Setting objectives around paper size and distribution locks the team into creating printouts. What are the real results being chased? Something along the lines of \u201cCommunicating performance information\u201d, \u201cMaintaining a record of production\u201d, most likely. Now the design team can explore other ways of sharing data \u2013 websites, dashboards, text alerts, and more.)<\/p>\n

Good business processes are adaptable. Someone following a process can only be a Man of Action if she can adjust how she delivers results, based on customer needs. If she understands the process objectives, she can adapt to the customer and maintain process integrity. Communicate the process objectives! Otherwise, her options are to make something up (satisfying the customer, but failing the process) or to follow a checklist (likely failing the customer).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a Test for Good Process Objectives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I call this the \u201cLil Test.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Lil worked the factory floor, and she was, to put it politely, \u201ca piece of work.\u201d She showed up to do her job, full stop. She learned that job 30 years ago, and so that\u2019s what she does. If you want to try something new (even in \"\"beta), if you want to introduce any change onto the shop floor, you need to get it past Lil. Who does not suffer fools lightly. Presume, when you are introducing a new process, you have to get Lil on board. The first thing she is going to say to you is, \u201cI\u2019ve been doing it like this for years. Why do I need to do it any differently?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

If you can give Lil a rational and intelligent answer to \u201cWhy do I need to do it any differently?\u201d, you probably have decent objectives. If your reply is vague, or you end with something like, \u201cBecause I said so,\u201d well, you will probably not get a whole lot of implementing done.<\/p>\n

For instance, suppose you say to Lil, \u201cI only want you to produce enough product to fill these two bins. When they\u2019re full, stop and wait for the next department to swap out with an empty bin.\u201d For years, she has been told to fire up her machine at the start of her shift and keep going until she runs out of material or the whistle blows.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you want me to do that? You\u2019re paying me to not<\/u> produce?\u201d<\/p>\n

Acceptable answers would include, \u201cWe want to make sure that we don\u2019t make more than the packaging department can handle,\u201d or \u201cWe want to be able to change out between different jobs, and this should help\u201d. (In other words, \u201cOur objectives are to minimize WIP and to maximize production flexibility.)<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t pass the Lil Test, you probably don\u2019t understand what you\u2019re trying to accomplish, and you probably shouldn\u2019t be implementing it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>No one should do work for the sake of doing work, either in process or in projects. Work should achieve something, some measurable value. Taking time up front to define that value saves effort over the long run, as teams now know where to focus; they can tailor how<\/em> they do the work because they know why <\/em>it needs to be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Teaching to the test\u2019 may be a crap way to run a school, but letting employees know what gets an \u2018A\u2019 is both efficient and effective.<\/p>\n

Setting clear objectives \u2013 when launching a project or designing a business process \u2013 is a winning idea. Here are some quick questions to check your thinking.<\/p>\n

(Part Two of Two) Continue reading What’s the Objective II: Of Projects and Process<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[12,19,40,53,64,65,66],"class_list":["post-1415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-managing-process","category-managing-projects","tag-adaptability","tag-business-process-management","tag-getting-shit-done","tag-objectives","tag-project-management","tag-project-sponsor","tag-projects"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/project-process-featured.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2440,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1415\/revisions\/2440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirdactmedia.com\/b-spoke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}