One way to think about longer term goal setting is in terms of persistent models vs. point-in-time goals. A point-time goal is a specific goal that the team tries to accomplish in a fixed period (quarter/year). Persistent models are north star Metrics and Management that persist for longer periods of time. For example, if you are creating a marketing product, your north star metric might be leads converted to sales. The point-in-time goals might be a project to increase the call to action visibility1. A north star metric is a bridge between leading and lagging metrics. Leading metrics are those most easily influenced by work, whereas lagging are typically the ones that the business cares about2.
On picking an unarguable goal, you must be honest to highlight brutal facts, invest in tackling the hard problems first, be grounded in reality, and continually persuade, inspire and walk with talk. You should expect criticism and pushback from peers and your team members. You must show empathy and patience to talk to people who donât believe in what youâre saying.
- Subbu Allamaraju3
One way of thinking about goal setting is the frontier of risk. When setting a goal the goal should address the critical questions of what, why, and how4. OKRs often answer the what and the how while leaving off the why4. ## Goal Setting Frameworks
- SMART Goals
- Objective and key results
- Narrative Commitments Tasks
- Spotify Rhythm5,6
- Art of Action Strategy Briefing5
1. Cutler, J. Persistent Models vs. Point-In-Time Goals. https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-2553-persistent-models-vs-point (2020).
2. Schmidt, D. Metrics-driven product development is hard. https://blog.doubleloop.app/metrics-driven-product-development-is-hard/ (2021).
3. Allamaraju, S. My Leadership Document â 2021 Edition. https://m.subbu.org/my-leadership-document-2021-edition-132aec22fc0e (2021).
4. Mehta, R. An alternative to OKRs: How to set and achieve ambitious goals. https://www.ravi-mehta.com/an-alternative-to-okrs-how-to-set-and-achieve-ambitious-goals/ (2024).
5. Skarin, M. Comparison of three strategy alignment frameworks â OKRs, Spotify Rhythm and Art of Action Strategy Briefing. https://blog.crisp.se/2020/05/25/mattiasskarin/comparison-of-three-strategy-alignment-frameworks (2020).
6. Kniberg, H. Spotify Rhythm - how we get aligned (slides from my talk at Agile Sverige). https://blog.crisp.se/2016/06/08/henrikkniberg/spotify-rhythm (2016).