SMART goals: What they are and how to apply them in IT projects

What are SMART goals and why are they important in IT?

Whether in personal or professional life, goals always set a direction for where you wish to go, in addition to defining the guidelines with which to reach that desired end. In addition, awareness and motivation are generated about the actions that are carried out, which allows us to focus our energies and efforts. It is also important to consider that, in order to achieve the goals, a clear path is needed on how to get there, since, without clear goals, it is like shooting into the air blindly and very likely to generate frustration. Hence, defining objectives is to improve the productivity of your IT team, with communication and motivation. To structure the objectives, the S.M.A.R.T. Methodology is recommended, which refers to the acronym of Specific (Specific), Measurable (Measurable), Achievable (Achievable), Relevant (Relevant) and Time-based (Time Defined or Temporary).

As we will see later, creating SMART objectives in IT involves defining five aspects that help to concentrate and re-evaluate initiatives as necessary. These consider that clear and measurable objectives will help you plan objectives and implement improvements in IT project management, promoting planned and predictive monitoring, IT management and the productivity of your employees to generate a resilient and reliable technology infrastructure and services, which guarantee a better experience for users and the organization as a whole.

Breakdown of SMART Goals into IT Projects

If you do not consider all the SMART aspects, you may be setting goals for monitoring and optimizing IT systems and resources, but not effectively defining them in a plan to achieve them. That is why you must be clear about each of these five aspects, which we summarize below:

• Specific: Here we refer to the goal being clearly articulated, so that everyone on your team understands it and is in tune. You must define what will be achieved and what actions must be taken to achieve that goal. Objectives should be detailed to the extent necessary for key IT components, such as server and network availability percentages. You may ask yourself questions such as the following: for what purpose? and, what do you wish to achieve?
• Measurable: Objectives must be quantifiable in order to track progress. You need to define what data will be used to measure the goal and establish a collection method. In this case, you must define the KPIs or metrics, such as those you defined in the management of SLA, SLI or SLO, in order to track progress towards the desired objectives. The questions you may ask yourself could be: what indicators or factors tell us if we are achieving it?
• Achievable: Any goal must be realistic in order to maintain the enthusiasm to try to achieve it. You may need to set goals in stages, to go from step to step and not try to climb a one-jump ladder. Keep in mind that you should avoid overloading IT and human resources. If the goal is not feasible at the moment, you may need to increase resources first to have a chance to succeed. You may first need to set a SMART goal on obtaining the resources before defining another goal. Questions you might want to ask yourself include: What does it take to achieve this, and do you have the resources to do so?
• Relevant: Objectives must be aligned with the strategic and operational needs of the company. What we mean is that you do nott set goals just as an exercise. One way to determine whether the goal is relevant is to define the key benefit to the organization, such as improving customer service, accelerating disaster recovery, etc. The corresponding questions are: does it contribute to the organization’s goal?, who does it impact?, why is it important?
• Time-bound: Goals should have a deadline to maintain focus and productivity. That is because a goal without a deadline does not do much to identify whether the attempt was successful or failed. We also mean that, from success or lack of it, you may set new goals. That is why it is important to set deadlines on goals. The questions you can ask yourself are: what is the deadline to achieve it? Or are there dates for some stages of the project?

To be clearer about how to apply this methodology, we will see below some examples of SMART objectives, taking into account each of their elements.

Practical Examples of SMART Goals in IT

Here are some examples of SMART goals in IT management to know how to define and write them, considering their five elements in a table to make it clearer:

• SMART goal to improve server response time.
  

  Specific	Measurable	Achievable	Relevant	Time-bound
  Reduce the response time of web servers	Decrease the average response time from 500 ms to 200 ms.	Improve server and content delivery network (CDN) configuration.	Improve user experience and increase customer satisfaction.	Achieve a reduction in server response time within 6 months.
  How to draft it: Reduce the response time of web servers from 500 ms to 200 ms, through improvements in server configuration and in the content distribution network, in order to create a better user and customer experience within 6 months.

• SMART goal to reduce downtime of critical applications.
  

  Specific	Measurable	Achievable	Relevant	Time-bound
  Reduce downtime of critical applications.	Reduce downtime from 5 hours per month to less than 1 hour per month.	Implement a 24/7 monitoring system, perform regular preventive maintenance and set up a quick incident response protocol.	Ensure continuous availability of critical applications to maintain productivity and customer satisfaction.	Achieve reduced downtime of critical applications within 3 months.
  How to draft it: Reduce critical application downtime from 5 hours to less than 1 hour per month by implementing system and application monitoring on a 24/7 basis, regular preventive maintenance, and quick incident response protocols to ensure availability, productivity, and customer satisfaction within 3 months.

• SMART goal for optimizing network capacity in distributed environments.
  

  Specific	Measurable	Achievable	Relevant	Time-bound
  Optimize network capacity in distributed environments.	Increase network capacity by 30% and reduce latency by 20%.	Implement load balancing technologies, improve network infrastructure and use advanced monitoring tools.	Ensure optimal performance and high availability of services in distributed environments.	Achieve network capacity improvements within 4 months.
  How to draft it: Optimize network capacity in distributed environments in 4 months, by increasing network capacity by 30% and reducing latency by 20%, implementing load balancing technologies (such as content distribution network, adoption of MPLS, traffic prioritization), improvements in the network infrastructure and the use of advanced monitoring tools, to ensure optimal performance and high availability of services in distributed environments.

Benefits of SMART Goals

When you have set SMART goals, you may get clear benefits for yourself and your IT management team:

• Improvements in communication through clarity about what you wish to achieve and how to achieve it.
• When measured, it can be improved, without subjectivity. Progress can be monitored, in addition to establishing accountability mechanisms and even incentives.
• Increase in confidence and frustration prevention thanks to the achievable nature of the goals.
• Commitment of the team to achieve goals within a defined time frame, generating a sense of prioritization and responsibility.

And something very important is the relevance of the objectives, seeking that they are always aligned with the goals of the organization, generating a positive and tangible impact for the business.

Disadvantages or, Rather, Considerations about SMART Goals

You always have to see the other side of the coin to avoid some frustration when implementing a methodology. Therefore, we recommend that you consider the following:

• Avoid the lack of flexibility. There may be limitations for specific aspects that prevent you from exploring options outside the methodology. You must be able to adapt to changing conditions. It is perfectly fine to readjust goals.
• Excessive focus on results. It is true that SMART goals focus on the final results. This may lead to frustration if immediate success is not achieved. Focus on learning along the way.
• Not using intuition. Although SMART goals are written in order to maintain a plan, do not neglect intuition. Trust what your instincts and experience can complement what you have written down in your SMART goals.

And there are not only SMART goals but also SMARTER ones

Evaluation and Review have been added to the SMART elements, becoming S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goals , where E.R. refer to:

• Evaluation: Goals must be periodically evaluated on their progress in order to be able to make the necessary adjustments.
• Review: Goals need to be continually reviewed to ensure they remain relevant and achievable, especially when we know business conditions are changing and therefore IT initiatives need to be synchronized to those needs.

As you may see, by incorporating evaluation and review into SMART goals, we seek to ensure continuous evaluation and adaptation, while maintaining focus and long-term improvements.

Conclusion: How SMART goals improve IT projects

Adopting the SMART goals methodology helps optimize IT monitoring projects, as it allows IT staff to look towards the same objectives, improving communication about what and how they want to achieve in an objective, measurable and reliable way, in addition to establishing a joint commitment. The ultimate goal of this type of objective is to generate a relevant impact for the business and its customers.
Pandora FMS recommends approaching its consultants to find out how to carry out the SMART objectives based on a comprehensive and intuitive solution for system monitoring and observability, as well as those of each of their components and their services. For example, Pandora FMS has the capabilities to detect the factors that impact user experience.