Last week I talked about using a Project Scan to pull yourself out of The Darkness. Essentially, taking a look at your projects one by one and focusing on the things that will take you to your main goal.
So what about your Main Goal? Do you have one? Do you have several? None? Uh oh.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road can take you there.
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— Lewis Carroll and every coach ever.
When I was a business analyst, I wrote a lot of project goal statements. I mean LOTS. I defined projects that I think they are still delivering. Each goal had the same format:
TO (outcome / deliverable)
IN A WAY THAT (constraints, major requirements),
SO THAT (benefits).
Here's an example from my current project list:
TO create a bread club order system
IN A WAY THAT lets me bake different items each day, has a maximum number of loaves per item, and non-technical bread buddies find simple to use,
SO THAT ordering frustration, baking mistakes and the effort in building an order list all go down.
Make it Personal with a Because Clause #
The format I used for all those years is good for 'old school' projects because it's clear, concise and all the stakeholders can see their needs in the statement (or can raise an issue if they don't.)
But for those of us who want to build something that matters, there's a big piece missing. I call that the Because clause.
It's the place where you get to articulate why the project is important at an emotional, big P Purpose level.
If you want to build a project or business or life with purpose, you need to take every opportunity to remind yourself and those around you of what that purpose is.
The Because clause is important for several reasons:
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It helps you restate your purpose in the context of the project
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It can inspire your team to bring their whole selves to the project
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It's a constant reminder of why the project is important to you. It puts you right in there, up front and center.
Let's add the Because clause to the example:
TO create a bread club order system
IN A WAY THAT lets me bake different items each day, has a maximum number of loaves per item, and non-technical bread buddies find simple to use,
SO THAT ordering frustration, baking mistakes and the effort in building an order list all go down.
BECAUSE I want the bread club to be the best part of my Bread Buddy's week. A tasty social occasion, not a burden.
In the old days, we'd all pay lip service to the Because. Yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody knows that.
But today, when each of us can choose to do work that matters, the Because clause is more important than ever.
If you're going to put emotional labour into a goal, it better be important to YOU too. Now that's a goal worth achieving.