01/30 Goals, Objectives and Tasks

One of the big movements on the web (that I'm currently aware of, anyway) is the Getting Things Done movement pioneered by David Allen. Rather than comment on GTD or on the billions of sites, articles and sub-pages dedicated to implementing GTD, I'd like to focus on what I usually focus on when understanding a system - defining terms.

The terms themselves are pretty universal but their definitions are open to interpretation (and it's the interpretations of terms that makes a system, and a system is what people want to sell, so of course there's different definitions depending on what's being sold to you).

Anyway, here's my nominal list, and guess what - I am not the sole authority on the Internet so YMMV. The idea is not to complicate your life, the idea is to create a mental model of all of these things so you can organize your efforts and compact your to-do list.

Goal

A goal is an abstract state or property you desire, something that is felt or perceived more than seen or used: I want to be financially secure.

Feature

A feature is a specific state or property, something that can be seen, felt or used (think of it as an embodiment of the nature of one or several goals) - goals and features can have a many-to-many relationship. Think of the features as proof of reaching the goal. In the example above, the following features show that the goal has been achieved:

• I have three months' salary in near-liquid assets, to draw upon in case of a change


• I spend less than I make


• I operate on a planned budget

The key is that the features are all positive statements of measureable things and act to prove that you've reached the goal. This is a critical function because it tells you (a) what you need to do, (b) how to know when you're done and (c) when it's time to consider the goal achieved. It seems like the emptiness many people suffer from a sense of dissatisfaction upon "achievements" stems from not tying those achievements to their goals, their desired states of feeling. Unfortunately that kind of introspection seems to only arise during a mid-life crisis.

Objective

Objectives are a stated intention/definition of what needs to be done to implement a feature. It's the top-level definition for a project, which is a set of tasks and metrics. Continuing with the above example:

• Be financially secure




• Have three months' salary in near-liquid assets, to draw upon in case of a change




1. Get three months' savings into a near-liquid asset




• Spend less than I make




1. Spend less


2. Make more




• Operate on a planned budget




1. Create and maintain a budget

Project

A project is a collection of tasks and metrics with the express purpose of implementing an objective. The projects are not the stuff you write on your to-do list every day; they're the guiding ideals behind your daily actions. This congrues with real life if you consider your daily projects to support the objectives of goals like staying alive, maintaining employment, caring for your family, etc.

Task

A task is an activity necessary to complete a project. Projects have many kinds of tasks: control tasks, environment tasks, maintenance tasks, training tasks, even delegation tasks. More on this some time in the future.

Metric/Measure

A metric or measure can exist at any level but is generally tied to either a task, project or objective. This is part of my own implementation - goals do not have measures in my mental view - the features are the metrics of the goals. Metrics are specific, measureable and repeatable. In the case above, a metric might be the specific balance to maintain in the asset, or the spending cap/spending amount in the budget,or the interest rate on the asset. Metrics are usually summary numbers (sum, average, mean, count, etc) but can also be non-numeric (a present or absent state, a letter grade, etc).

There's a section to add here on business management taxonomy but I have to get to work. Hopefully later.








2 down, 28 to go.