Setting Yourself Up For Success: How to Craft Useful Objectives

NYBPP Meetup (1/18/2017)

Highlights and Q&A

Agenda

I. Setting Yourself Up For Success: How to Craft Useful Objectives ■ Objectives and Energy in the Project Context■ Problems Create Energy■ Identifying the Actual Problem: Root Cause Analysis■ Problem Statements■ Goal Statements: Crafting Achievable Objectives■ Summary

II. Q&A■ How do you create an objective when there is no problem? For example, a

creative design project■ Are there other frameworks besides the 5 whys for identifying the root cause of

the problem?■ How does transparency (as discussed last week) around goals and problems

feed into leadership?■ How does this work with a problem that isn't a profitability issue?

Setting Yourself Up For Success: How to Craft Useful Objectives

Learning how to consistently create achievable objectives that are likely to succeed

Meeting Objectives with Project Energy

● A successful objective is one that can be realistically achieved.○ In order to enact change and achieve a goal, energy

has to be used.● You can set yourself up for success by creating

projects where energy for change already exists - don’t try to create all the energy yourself!○ If you can find a “project energy” and guide it to its

resolved state, you will be successful!

Problems Create Energy

Where does project energy come from? from problems.

● Without problems, there is no constant energy, and the project will eventually die (unless you muscle it through with your own energy, which leads to burnout).

● A real problem will generate energy and you can then build a good objective around it.

● As the objective is closer to completion, the energy that drives the project should lessen, until the project is complete and there is no more energy (or problem!).

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Identifying the Actual Problem: Root Cause Analysis

Identifying the Actual Problem: Root Cause Analysis

Summary• Good projects and objectives are built around existing

energy sources and are more likely to be successful.

• Project energy is generated by problems. Problems in processes cause tension that can be used to fuel change until the tension resolves.

• Problems are tricky to find sometimes: you have to know what a problem is vs a symptom of the problem, and always look for the root cause.

• Once you can identify and quantify the problem properly using a problem statement, building a good objective is simply structuring an effort around the exact reverse: the goal or objective statement.

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Q&AAnswering questions from the Meetup

How do you create an objective when there is no problem? (for example, a creative design project)

You don’t!

● There must always be a problem underlying a successful objective; otherwise, there is no reason to create an objective.

● Something that seems like starting from scratch, a creative endeavor, or something new with no apparent motivation are almost always tied to a problem somewhere around where the request initiated. ○ One simply has to keep asking why the project is being

initiated, until they find the linkage.

Are there other frameworks besides the “5 Whys” for identifying the root cause of the problem?

Yes.

● 5 Whys is the “common sense” tool; however, there are other formal analyses as part of process improvement such as the fishbone, or ishikawa diagram. ○ There is also the cause and effect analysis template.

● These tools should all lead you to the same root cause, but some will help guide and structure your thinking in different ways.

How does transparency (as discussed last meetup) around goals and problems translate into leadership?

Full transparency is foundational to good leadership, and will help teams meet objectives.

● Without transparency, even a well identified problem and project energy can diminish because all the project resources are not aware of it.

● Thus, it is very important to be fully transparent regarding what the problem really is, and how a project objective is crafted to measure and solve that problem.

How do these principles work with a problem that isn’t a profitability issue?

All problems are profitability issues at their root - so these principles always work.

● These principles are universal because ultimately, the underlying value drivers of needing to produce more for less (the essence of profitability) will supply energy for any objective of any kind.

● It is the process engineer’s job to understand these mechanics, and frame the root cause of the problem such that it is identified within the value/profitability framework.

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