mingyao743/make-rational-decision/smart-goals

SMART Goal Analysis

A framework for setting and evaluating goals against five criteria to ensure they are clear, actionable, and verifiable.

When to Use

• Goal setting for individuals, teams, or organizations
• Performance management and OKR definition
• Project objective definition
• Evaluating whether an existing goal is well-formed
• Converting vague aspirations into concrete commitments

The Five Criteria

Process

1. Draft the goal statement

• Start with a plain-language description of what you want to achieve

1. Evaluate against each criterion

• Walk through S-M-A-R-T in order
• For each criterion, ask the test question
• If the goal fails any test, revise it

1. Revise and refine

• Rewrite the goal until it passes all five criteria
• Each revision should make the goal more concrete

1. Finalize

• Produce a single sentence goal statement that satisfies all criteria
• Document the metrics, baseline, and verification method

1. Review periodically

• Re-assess achievability and relevance as conditions change
• Adjust the goal if the environment has shifted significantly

Common Failures and Fixes

Output Format

## SMART Goal Analysis
 
### Original Goal Statement
[The initial, possibly vague goal]
 
### Evaluation
 
| Criterion | Question | Answer | Pass? |
|-----------|----------|--------|-------|
| Specific | What exactly? | [Answer] | ✅/❌ |
| Measurable | How tracked? | [Answer] | ✅/❌ |
| Achievable | Realistic? | [Answer] | ✅/❌ |
| Relevant | Matters? | [Answer] | ✅/❌ |
| Time-bound | Deadline? | [Answer] | ✅/❌ |
 
### Revised SMART Goal
[The refined goal statement that passes all criteria]
 
### Success Metrics
- **Primary metric**: [Metric name] — Baseline: [value] → Target: [value]
- **Secondary metric**: [Metric name] — Baseline: [value] → Target: [value]
- **Verification method**: [How success will be confirmed]
- **Deadline**: [Date]
 
### Risk to Achievement
| Risk | Mitigation |
|------|------------|
| [Risk 1] | [Mitigation] |

Extensions

This skill is enhanced by the following shared extensions:

• `_shared/tracking-system.md` — Essential for SMART; provides goal definition files, review logs, and status tracking for periodic re-evaluation
• `_shared/skill-workflows.md` — Workflows 1, 2, 5, and 6 use SMART to convert analysis output into concrete goals
• `_shared/examples-library.md` — Example 9 shows transforming a vague goal into a SMART goal

Rules

• "Measurable" requires a number — if you can't attach a metric, the goal isn't SMART
• "Achievable" means there's a credible plan, not that it's easy — goals should stretch but not break
• "Relevant" connects upward — the goal must serve a higher-level objective, not exist in isolation
• "Time-bound" means a specific calendar date, not "eventually" or "this year"
• A goal that fails any single criterion is not a SMART goal — all five are mandatory
• Goals should be re-evaluated at regular intervals — a SMART goal from 6 months ago may no longer be relevant