Screenshot 2015-12-08 12.01.18

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Turn your goals into a roadmap

Goal setting is great fun. If you ask, then I bet most people would say that they do some form of goal setting. But too often it stops here. But not for you.

Take each of the 3-4 big goal that you set yourself for 2016. Now, treat each one as a program that needs to be delivered. That is, a group of related projects.

Step 1: Break the Goal (Program) into the projects that need to be done to achieve the goal

Take one of your goals. Perhaps it is to run a marathon. Or even to get a promotion. Or even to learn a new language. These are all great goals and I am sure that you have a great reason why they are important to you.

To make them a reality, you need to start taking action. The first step is to break down the goal into what needs to be done to move you closer to the goal. Make sure that your breakdown includes everything you can think of. I use a 100% rule here. This rules simply asks if I do everything here, do I give myself the best change of success?

From the breakdown, you need to look at how many discrete projects you have. For each project, write a project charter. At this stage you just need to outline the scope, objectives, and participants you need in the project. You can use the 90-8-8 system we developed.

The first 3 columns of your roadmap look as below:

Screenshot 2015-12-07 17.44.32

This is your 2016 portfolio!

Step 2: Assess the size of your projects in terms of scope and cost

For your projects, make an assessment of the project. On the x axis, rate your your in terms of the budget required. Rate it as $, $$ and $$$ to indicate small, medium or large cost. The real definition of each of the ranges will vary from company to company or person to person. Size all of your projects by cost.

Next, assess your project in terms of scope. Big budget does not equate to big scope. Some projects may cost a lot to do, but may not involve you or your company doing a lot of work. Use a 5 tier ranking – XS, S, M, L and XL.

Your portfolio now looks like this:

Screenshot 2015-12-08 08.51.28

Step 3: Schedule your project by quarter.

We are still in a high level planning phase. Based on the size of the projects you now need to schedule these. By quarter is best for this stage of planning.

You need to consider the capacity that you have available at any given time. Is Q1 busy for any particular reason? Will you be down on numbers over the summer months? Have you too many projects? If so, what does this mean from a goal setting perspective. All questions you need to consider, before putting a goals roadmap together. Remember, you are committing to this.

Here is a sample:

Screenshot 2015-12-08 08.56.46

Note: Only Goal #1 projects shown above

Complete this out for the other goals and now you have a roadmap for 2016.

You will need to do some more detailed planning to ensure that it is feasible to deliver this volume of work. For this, you need to:

  1. Develop a WBS for each projects
  2. Develop an estimate
  3. Develop a schedule
  4. View all the projects in the portfolio together.

We will review the processes involved in items 1 to 4 above in another post.

In summary – turn your goals into a roadmap

  1. Break the goals down into projects
  2. Develop a charter for each project
  3. Assess the size of the projects (scope and cost)
  4. Schedule all the projects in the portfolio

This is an excellent start. It is the first iteration of your 2016 roadmap.

 

 

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