Are you an up-and-coming project manager? Or maybe you’re an experienced director with dozens of successful projects under your belt?
Either way, it’s good to brush up on project management best practices. After all, it’s tough to gauge the success of your project if you don’t have clear, measurable objectives in place.
It might sound like an extra step, but defining project objectives before you start working is the best way to save time and hassle down the line—and maybe even a few bucks. 💸
In this guide, we’ll delve into project management objectives, why they’re so helpful, and how to set effective objectives that get your team across the finish line.
What are Project Objectives?
Project objectives are a type of goal that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Their purpose is to define what your project will accomplish before you start working.
Think of SMART project objectives as a type of roadmap that gets your project team through the project lifecycle. It also acts as a vision statement that keeps everyone on task and aligned with the project scope . (Because the last thing you need is scope creep .)
The biggest difference between objectives and goals is that objectives are more actionable and specific. For instance, a goal might be something like “I want to increase revenue.” But an objective would be “The marketing team will increase referral sources from social media by 10% by the end of Q2.” See the difference?
Organize goals by department in a ClickUp List
There are endless ways to write project objectives. Ultimately, the objective you write boils down to the project’s purpose. You could create business objectives for:
- Improving the user experience
- Launching a new product
- Financial success
- Feature rollouts
Most projects will have multiple objectives, so it’s a good idea to track your goals using objectives and key results (OKR) software or goal-tracking apps . These tools will keep your head on straight as you juggle different team members, tasks, and projects. 🤹
Add Docs, tasks, and more on a ClickUp Whiteboard to visually build a clear path to project success from kickoff to delivery
Benefits of Setting Project Objectives
Setting project objectives helps with goal-setting from the start. You can then look back on the project and prove—often with hard data—that the project was a success. Or, if it wasn’t, you can pinpoint how far off you were from your desired results. 🎯
Setting project objectives can help you in many ways, but these are the biggest benefits:
- Make a solid project plan: As the team lead, it’s up to you to develop project management objectives. With SMART objectives in hand, you’ll create a great project plan objectives. Ask them what the organization’s goals are for the year.
Even if it’s a generic goal like “save money,” that gives you a clear direction to work with. For example, this isn’t the time to set objectives like “Increase marketing spend by 50%.”
When you know your organization’s larger goals, you choose project objectives that are more relevant to the project at hand.
Plus, it’s a lot easier to gain project stakeholder buy-in when you can prove that your objectives correlate to your organization’s annual goals.
Use templates to save time
No time to set up your own project objectives? No sweat. We get that it takes time to set these objectives—and sometimes, that’s extra time you don’t have.
When it’s crunch time, use templates for your OKRs and objectives . They’ll need customizing, but the formatting alone adds up to several hours saved each month.
Try the ClickUp Company OKRs and Goals Template to create an organizational structure that reflects your company’s vision and values—all in one place!
Build a hierarchy of team, department, and company goals with ClickUp’s Company OKRs and Goals Template
Set objectives as a team
Who says you have to shoulder all of the work solo? Tap into your team members’ expertise to set project objectives together.
Two heads are better than one, and team collaboration can make a big difference. Combining your brainpower makes it possible to think of bigger, better goals you might not have considered otherwise.
Monitor your KPIs with ClickUp Goals
You’ve created awesome project objectives, but how do you hold your team accountable to them? Enter ClickUp Goals .
With ClickUp Goals, set your project objectives and efficiently track them side-by-side with your tasks and workflows. Instead of flipping between different tools and platforms, everything you need is in one place.
Talk about a timesaver. ⏱️
ClickUp Goals make your timelines and targets clear as a bell. Set different types of Targets for:
- Numerical goals
- Monetary goals
- True/false goals
- Tasks
Stay on track to hit your goals with clear timelines, measurable targets, and automatic progress tracking
Need to convert a Task into a Goal? Do it in ClickUp with just a click—you never have to do double entry again.
The Goals folder system organizes and tracks all of your project goals in one dashboard . You can even assign goals to certain teams and people to hold everyone accountable.
We know you don’t have time to hound your team for project updates.
Simply assign a deadline to your Goals, and ClickUp will send you progress updates via weekly scorecards. With automatic tracking, you don’t have to wonder about everyone’s status. Instead, the team focuses more on the actual work and not on reports.
Neatly store and categorize similar goals into Goal Folders in ClickUp
Put Project Success on Autopilot
Project objectives are a must-have for any strategic project. Teamwork and templates will get you far. But when you need to bring your work and high-level strategies into the same platform, go with ClickUp.
ClickUp injects a dose of sanity into project management processes to make your job—dare we say?—fun.
But don’t take our word for it. Sign up for ClickUp to streamline your process and start setting actionable project objectives.