Identifying project goals

Introduction: Defining project goals, scope, and success criteria

 Define and create project goals and deliverables
 Define project scope, what’s considered in-scope, out-of-scope, and scope creep
 Explain how to define and measure a project’s success criteria
Director of product at Office Green has an idea for a new service called Plant Pals to offer high-
volume customers small, low-maintenance plants like cacti and leafy ferns, for their desks. As
the project manager, you’ve were tasked to manage the roll out of the service. As we go through
the course, we’ll return to the role as the project manager at Office Green, to assist in project
goals, deliverables, and success criteria. You’ll see your team and the stakeholders and the roles
they play in creating and following the three significant components. At the end the project
manager will compile everything you’ve learned into shared documents that can be used in your
portfolio for future employers. After the course, you’ll move onto the next phases of the project
life cycle, and so will your office green project.

Determining project goals and deliverables (Video)

 Project goal
 The desired outcome of the project

Goals
 Improve email response time by 20%
 increase revenue by 5% through new service offering

Well-defined goals are clear and specific

Video Question
What’s a project goal?
 A desired outcome of a project that is clear and specific
Ex: A project goal should tell the team what the end of the project will look like. The goal should
also be clear and specific.

Project deliverables
 The products or services that are created for the customer, client, or project sponsor
 What gets produced or presented at the end of a task, event, or process
 Help quantify and realize the impact of the project
Video Question #2
What’s a project deliverable?
 An outcome produced at the end of a task
Ex: Project deliverables can be an item or report that teammates present to stakeholders, such as
a presentation, chart, or graph.
 Ungraded Plugin: Explore: Project Plant Pals: Initiation
In upcoming activities, you will work with stakeholders to set goals, roles, and deliverables for
Project Plant Pals. Explore an infographic to find out more about what’s next in the initiation
phase.
Understand the initiation phase

Refine goals with stakeholders

You will first meet with the project sponsor, the Director of Product, to talk about their goals for
the project. You'll convert these objectives into SMART goals in order to make them clear and
maintain project momentum.

Assess stakeholder power and influence

After that, you will learn more about your stakeholders and how they contribute to the project.
You may determine the most effective way and frequency of communication with team
members, investors, and other stakeholders by using a stakeholder analysis and power grid.

Assign roles and responsibilities to promote the service

Teams will be assembled to create the marketing and sales strategy and rebuild the website to
promote Plant Pals. To decide who should be in charge, accountable, consulted, and informed
about different project duties, you'll need RACI charts.

Create a charter for the next stage of the project

Your concentration will turn to internal operations as you conclude the initial phase. To help your
team plan Plant Pals' training, contentment, and delivery processes, you will draft a project
charter.

How to set SMART goals (Video)

 Specific
 Measurable
 Attainable
 Relevant
 Time-bound

Specific
 What do I want to accomplish?
 Why is this a goal?
 Who is involved?
 Where should the goal be delivered?
Measurable
 How much?
  How many?
 How will I know when it’s accomplished?

Metrics
What you use to measure something

Benchmarks
Points of reference

Attainable
 Can it reasonably be reached?
 How can it be accomplished?

Relevant
 Does the goal make sense?
 Is the goal worthwhile?
 Is it the right time?

Time-bound
Has a deadline or clear time frame

Video questions
What can help create a measurable goal? Select all that apply.
 Benchmarks
Ex: SMART goals are well-defined goals that help keep projects on track. They’re specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. SMART goals are measured with figures or
numbers known as metrics. Benchmarks are used to help confirm the accuracy of metrics.
 Metrics
Ex: It’s important for project managers to set well-defined goals. That’s why SMART goals are
specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Metrics, such as figures or numbers,
make goals measurable. The accuracy of metrics is confirmed with points of reference, called
benchmarks.
Identify project goals
SMART goals: Making goals Meaningful (Reading)
In this session, you will learn how to develop and create quantifiable project goals and
deliverables. Now let's look at SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and
Time-bound (SMART) objectives are extremely beneficial in assuring project success. As you
begin your project management career, you may not be able to create project goals directly, but
you should be able to clarify and comprehend them. SMART goals allow you to see the entire
scope of a goal, establish its feasibility, and define project success in tangible terms.
Let's summarize everything we talked about in the previous video by looking at a breakdown of
the requirements for SMART goals below:

 Specific: The objective has no ambiguity for the project team to misinterpret.
 Measurable: Metrics help the project team determine when the objective is met.
 Attainable: The project team agrees the objective is realistic.
 Relevant: The goal fits the organization’s strategic plan and supports the project charter.
 Time-bound: The project team documents a date to achieve the goal.

You may see variances in what each letter in the "SMART" acronym stands for. (For example,
you could see "actionable" or "achievable" instead of "attainable" or "realistic" instead of
"relevant.") However, the overall aim of each of these terms—to ensure that the goal is within
reach—is always consistent.
Focusing on “M” in SMART
Let's focus on the M in SMART, which stands for measurable. Having measurable goals enables
you to evaluate the performance of your project using quantitative or concrete measures such as
money amounts, number of outputs, quantities, and so on. Measurable goals are vital because
they reduce uncertainty about stakeholders' expectations.

Not every statistic will be valuable, so you must choose which metrics are appropriate for the
project. For example, determining how many weekly meetings the software developers on your
project attend may not be the most useful statistic for achieving a productivity objective.
Alternatively, you may track other aspects of the engineers' productivity, such as the number of
features generated per engineer, or the number of bugs identified each day.
Defining a SMART goal
Let's look at an example of measuring a personal objective. Assume you want to make a career
move and set a goal to complete a Google Career Certificate. You can assess the achievement of
this goal because, upon completion of the full program, you will earn a certificate—a tangible
outcome.

Let's figure out how to make the remaining aspects of this goal SMART. In this case, your
explicit goal is to obtain a Google Career Certificate. You can make this goal feasible by
committing to completing one course per month. This aim is important since it supports your
desire to pursue a career shift. Finally, you can make this objective time-bound by committing
to completing the program within six months.

After defining each of these components, your SMART objective becomes: Earn a Google
Career Certificate by completing one course each month over the following six months.

Practice Assignment: Activity: Define and determine SMART project goals

Goal One: “Office Green wants to increase brand awareness.”
SMART Goal One: “Office Green wants…”

Background Statement:
 Office Green will promote the new service with a new marketing and sales strategy, a
redesigned website with a new Plant Pals landing page, and a print catalog.
 With the publicity around the launch, Office Green projects that their customer base will
grow by at least 15%.
 Website traffic has dipped slightly over the past three years, from 15K to 13K visits each
month. The Marketing Manager wants unique page visits to increase by at least 2K each
month by the end of the year, which is in line with the results of prior marketing
campaigns.
 The project is scheduled to be launched by the end of the third quarter. The project team
will continue to collect data on the project’s progress through the rest of the year and
assess how well it has met its goals at the end of the fourth quarter. (It is currently the
start of Q1.)
What makes this goal specific? Does it provide enough detail to avoid ambiguity?
Response: Office Green wants to promote a new strategy service “Plant Pals” and wants to
create a website landing page. They also want to boost brand awareness.
What makes this goal measurable? Does it include metrics to gauge success?
Response: Office green wants to grow their customer base by 15% and wants to grow their
website visits by 2k each month.
What makes this goal attainable? Is it realistic given available time and resources?
Response: Time: A year to reach goal
Resources: Prior marketing campaigns
People: IT department, marketing department

What makes this goal relevant? Does it support project or business objectives?
Response: What makes the goal relevant is that Office Green will have their greater brand
awareness lead new customer support with company business model and will lead overall 5%
revenue increase according to project goal.
 What makes this goal time-bound? Does it include a timeline or deadline?
Response: Office Green has its timeline set for the end of the year.

Goal Two: “Office Green wants to raise the customer retention rate.”
SMART Goal Two: “Office Green wants…”

Background Statement:
 Office Green’s customer retention rate was 80% last year, but the CEO wants that number
to increase by at least 10% this year.
 Last year, 70% of customers who left Office Green for competitors said they did so
because they wanted more extensive services. When surveyed, 85% of existing customers
expressed an interest in Plant Pals.
 The Vice President of Customer Success expects Office Green to achieve a customer
satisfaction rating of over 90% this year—a slight increase over last year. The rating has
stayed between 85%-90% for the last five years.
 The company plans to create an Operations and Training plan for Plant Pals to improve
on existing customer service standards and boost efficiency.
What makes this goal specific? Does it provide enough detail to avoid ambiguity?
Response: raise retention rate, and have a high customer satisfaction rate
What makes this goal measurable? Does it include metrics to gauge success?
Response: Reach 90% retention rate, last year was 80% and customer satisfaction rate of over
90% and current satisfaction rate is 85 to 90%
What makes this goal attainable? Is it realistic given available time and resources?
Response: Time: end of the year
Resources: Launch new strategy service “Plant Pals”
People: Marketing department

Result: Office Green result is 70% leaving customers requiring more service and 85%
interested in new service.

What makes this goal relevant? Does it support projects or business objectives?
Response: With more customer retention leads to more sales and will lead overall 5% project
revenue.

What makes this goal time-bound? Does it include a timeline or deadline?

Response: What makes it time-bound is that they want their goal achieved by the end of the
year.

Activity Exemplar: Define and determine SMART project goals (Reading)

SMART goal one
The original goal indicates that Office Green will boost its overall brand awareness through Plant
Pals, but it doesn’t indicate how they will do it, whether it's possible, why it’s important, or when
they will get it done. The SMART goal addresses all these questions, which increases Office
Green’s chances of reaching their aim:
“Office Green will boost brand awareness with a new marketing and sales strategy and website
update that will increase page views by 2K per month by the end of the year.”
 Specific: Office Green will update their website and launch a new marketing and sales
strategy to boost awareness of their brand.
 Measurable: The goal includes a metric of 2K new page views per month.
 Attainable: They have a year to reach this goal and the target of 2K new page views per
month is in line with prior marketing campaigns.
 Relevant: Greater brand awareness can mean new customers, which supports the overall
project goal of a 5% revenue increase.
 Time-bound: The deadline is at the end of the year.

SMART goal two

The original goal indicates that Office Green will raise their customer retention rate, but it
doesn’t indicate how they will do it, whether it's possible, why it’s important, or when they will
get it done. The SMART goal addresses all these questions, which increases Office Green’s
chances of reaching their aim:
“Office Green will raise their overall customer retention rate by 10% by the end of the year by
implementing a new Operations & Training plan for the Plant Pals service.”
 Specific: Office Green will implement an Operations & Training plan that will improve
existing customer service standards and boost efficiency.
 Measurable: The goal includes a metric of a 10% increase in retention.
 Attainable: They have a year to reach this goal and many former and existing customers
are interested in the new service. It has the potential to help them keep customers who
may be thinking about leaving for a landscaper with more services.
 Relevant: Increasing customer retention can lead to more sales, which supports the
overall project goal of a 5% revenue increase.
 Time-bound: The deadline is at the end of the year.
Introduction to OKRs (Video)
Objective
+
Key Results

OKRs combine a goal and a metric to determine a measurable outcome.

Objective:
 Defines what needs to be achieved
 Describes a desired outcome

Examples:
 Increase in customer retention
 Improves employee onboarding process
Key Results:
 The measurable outcomes that define when the objective has been met

Examples: Objective: improve customer retention

Key Result: Achieve a 90% customer satisfaction rating by the end of the quarter

Objectives
 Similar to goals
 Describe a desired outcome

Key Results
 Define how you’ll know whether you’ve met your objective

Video Question
Which part of an OKR defines what needs to be achieved?
 Objective
Ex: OKR is an acronym for objectives and key results. Objectives define what needs to be
achieved and describe a desired outcome. Key results define how the project team knows
whether or not they have met their objective.

OKR Levels
 Company/Organization
 Department/Team
 Project
 Company-level OKRs

Dept/ Dept/ Dept/

Team Team Team

Project-level OKR

Company-level OKRs are commonly shared across an organization so that everyone is clear on
the company's goals. They are usually updated on an annual basis to help drive the organization
in the direction it wants to go. These high-level OKRs support the mission of the organization.

Project-level OKRs should support and be aligned with company-level OKRs.

Office Green Company-wide OKRs objective is to increase customer retention by adapting to

change the workplace environment.

Key Results:
 95% of phone, chat, and email customer support tickets are resolved during the first
contact
 Top 3 most requested new offerings for distributed office environments are in pilot by the
end of the second quarter.
 Sales and support channels are available 24/7 by the end of the year

Office Green Sales Department OKRs

Objective:
Increase the sales team presence nationwide

Key Results:
New sales offices are open in 10 cities by the end of the year

Project-level OKRs need to align with support both company an department-level OKRs
Plant Pals Project OKRs

Objective:
 Enroll existing customers in the Plant Pals service

Key Result:
 25% of existing customers sign up for the plant PALS Pilot

 OKR stands for objectives and key results. They combine a goal and a metric to
determine a measurable outcome.
 Objectives define what needs to be achieved and describe a desired outcome.
 Key results define how you will measure the outcome of your objective.
 Company-level OKRs are shared across an organization so that everyone can align and
focus their efforts to help the company reach its goals.
 Project-level OKRs help define measurable project goals. They need to align with and
support
 both company and departmental-level OKRs.
Creating OKRs for your project
In this session, you will learn how to develop and create quantifiable project goals and
deliverables. This reading will concentrate on developing successful objectives and key
outcomes (OKRs) and how to incorporate them into the structure of your project.
What are OKRs?
OKR indicates Objective and Key Results. They integrate a goal with a metric to get a
measurable result.

Throughout the company OKRs are used to establish a long-term goal for a whole organization,
team, or department. Project-level OKRs define the specific results that each group must attain to
serve the organization.
OKRs and project management
Being a project manager, OKRs can help you expand on project goals and explain the
deliverables required to achieve those goals. Project-level OKRs help create the right scope for
your team, allowing you to say "no" to requests that may prevent them from accomplishing their
goals. You can also construct and use project-level OKRs to encourage your team, as OKRs are
designed to push you beyond what is easily attainable.
Creating OKRs for your project
Set objectives
The objectives of the project should be aspirational, relevant to company goals, action-oriented,
concrete, and substantial. Consider the vision you and your stakeholders have for your project
and decide what you want the project team to accomplish in 3-6 months.

Examples
 Build the most secure data security software
 Continuously improve web analytics and conversions
 Provide a top-performing service
 Make a universally available app
 Increase market reach
 Achieve top sales among competitors in the region
Strong aims satisfy the following characteristics. They are:
 Aspirational
 Aligned with organizational goals
 Action-oriented
 Concrete
 Significant
To shape each target, challenge oneself and those on your team:
 Does the objective help in achieving the project’s overall goals?
 Does the objective align with company and departmental OKRs?
 Is the objective inspiring and motivational?
 Will achieving the objective make a significant impact?
Develop key results
Next, include 2-3 critical results for each aim. The key outcomes should be time-bound.
Indicators can be used to indicate how much progress needs to be made in a shorter period of
time or to determine whether you've met your project's goal at the conclusion. They should also
encourage yourself and each other to push oneself to achieve more.
Examples:
 X% new signups within first quarter post launch
 Increase advertiser spend by X% within the first two quarters of the year
 New feature adoption is at least X% by the end of the year
 Maximum 2 critical bugs are reported monthly by customers per Sprint
 Maintain newsletter unsubscribe rate at X% this calendar year
Strong key outcomes satisfy the following criteria:
 Results-oriented—not a task
 Measurable and verifiable
 Specific and time-bound
 Aggressive yet realistic

For guidance on your key results, ask yourself and your team the following
questions:
 What does success mean?
 What metrics would prove that we’ve successfully achieved the objective?

OKR development best practices

Here are some excellent practices to consider while writing OKRs:

 Think of your objectives as being motivational and inspiring and your key results as
being tactical and specific. The objective describes what you want to do and the key
results describe how you’ll know you did it.
 As a general rule, try to develop around 2–-3 key results for each objective.
 Be sure to document your OKRs and link to them in your project plan.

OKRs versus SMART goals

Earlier in this course, you learned how to set SMART goals for your project. While SMART
goals and OKRs share some characteristics, there are significant variations as well. The
following article discusses the similarities and differences between SMART goals and OKRs, as
well as when you might choose to utilize one over the other:
[Link]

Practice Quiz: Optional Activity: Create OKRs for your project

Project Move It OKRs
Background
● The project needs to be completed within two years.
● Community members buy-in and support for the locations of the
new bus lines will be required.
● The project must adhere to all government regulations.
● Stops along the new bus lines must connect neighboring suburbs to
downtown and public resource facilities.
 ● Bus lines must service at least 50% of the most densely populated
areas of Wonder City.
● The project is intended to help improve wait times and increase
ridership.
● The plan includes a marketing campaign to promote the new lines.
Actively and meaningfully engage the public to generate buy-in and
O1 project support.

KR 400 attendees to 12 public meetings focused on transit talks

1

KR 75% of wonder City residents surveyed before lunch

2

KR 70% of community leaders participate in community outreach

3 program

Make it easy to get around the greater Wonder City area via public
O2 transportation.

KR Buses on new lines run every 10 minutes during peak hours

1

KR The densely-populated sections of Wonder City (1,500-2,000 people

2 per sq mile) have 3 bus stops per 10 city blocks.

KR New ridership increases by 25% with 3 months

3
 O3 Promote public transportation as a convenient alternative to driving.

KR 6,000 unique visitors to WCTA online portal per month

1

KR 80% click-through rate from banner ads on social media

2

KR 15 press pieces published in relevant print ad online publications

3

O4 Objective.

KR New busses meet government safety standards at monthly inspections

1 at 100%

KR 95% of new busses fleet operational at all times

2

KR Wait times decrease by 20% within 2 months of launch

3

Assessment of Exemplar
OKR #1: Actively and meaningfully engage the public to generate buy-in and project
support
Each key result uses measurable data to define success for the objective. For example, “400
attendees to 12 public meetings focused on transit talks” measures engagement in the number of
attendees at public meetings about transit.

OKR #2: Make it easy to get around the greater Wonder City area via public
transportation.
Each key result uses measurable data to define success for the objective. For example, “New
ridership increases by 25% within three months” measures the increase in bus ridership in the
city in response to the community’s improved ability to get around the city with ease.

OKR #3: Promote public transportation as a convenient alternative to driving.

Each key result uses measurable data to define success for the objective. For example, “80%
click-through rate from banner ads on social media” measures the success of the promotional
campaign in public engagement with social media ads.

OKR #4: Provide a reliable and consistent public transportation service.

Each key result uses measurable data to define success for the objective. For example, “100% of
new buses meet government safety standards at monthly inspections” measures the reliability
and consistency of buses that pass regular safety inspections.

Practice Quiz: Test your knowledge: Identifying project goals

Question 1
Which three questions should you ask yourself to make a goal specific?
 What do I want to accomplish?
Ex: When crafting a goal, you want to explain what will be done.
 Who is involved?
Ex: When creating your goal, you’ll want to state who the goal involves.
 Where should it be delivered?
Ex: When writing a goal, you may want to include where exactly the goal will be delivered.

Question 2
Which of the following is an example of a measurable goal? Select all that apply.
 Achieve a 20% improvement in customer satisfaction ratings based on post-support
survey results
Ex: Measurable goals allow you to assess the success of your project based on quantifiable or
tangible metrics, such as dollar amounts, percentages, number of outputs, and quantities.
 Increase product revenue by 5%
Ex: Measurable goals generally include metrics, like figures and numbers, that help the project
team determine when the objective is met.

Question 3
What’s a strategy to determine if a goal is attainable?
  Break down the goal into smaller parts
Ex: Taking a complicated goal and breaking it down into smaller, achievable steps can help you
determine if it seems reasonable for your team to accomplish.

Question 4
What can you do to determine if a goal is relevant?
 Consider if the goal matches the organization’s other needs and priorities.
Ex: The goal needs to align with the organization’s other goals, priorities, and values. Everyone
involved should feel like the goal is worth supporting.

Question 5
Which of the following are examples of key results? Select all that apply.
 Increase the number of website visitors by 25% by end of year
Ex: A key result details how to tangibly measure the success of the objective. This is an example
of a key result for the objective: launch a new website.
 Successfully process 50 online orders by month's end
Ex: A key result details how to tangibly measure the success of the objective. This is an example
of a key result for the objective: implement online ordering.

Question 6
Which of the following are objectives and key results (OKRs) development best practices?
Select all that apply.
 Key results should be tactical and specific.
Ex: Key results should challenge the project manager and the team to stretch their abilities and
achieve more.
 OKRs are a resource that should be linked to the project plan.
Ex: The project manager should document all OKRs and link to them in the project plan for
visibility.
 Objectives should be motivational and inspiring.
Ex: Project objectives should be aspirational, aligned with organizational goals, action-
oriented, concrete, and significant.
Defining project scope
Determining a projects scope (Video)

Project scope includes boundaries of a project, Google defines it as an agreed pon understanding
of projects complexity. Scope ensures that your project will be delivered to and who will be
using the end result of the project.

Scope
 Resources
 Timeline
 Budget
 Video Question
What does project scope refer to?
 The project boundaries

Additional questions
 Where did this project come from?
 Why is it needed?
 What is the project expected to achieve?
 What does the project sponsor have in mind?
 Who approves the final results?

Video Question #2
At what time during a project should defining project scope happen?
 During the initial project planning phase
Ex: Defining scope before a project starts helps mitigate the risk of big changes later on.
Gathering information to define scope (Reading)
In this session, you'll learn how to define project scope status and distinguish between in-scope,
out-of-scope, and scope creep elements that influence project completion. Let's look at how to
determine critical parts of a project's scope and what questions to ask in order to define it.
Asking scope-defining questions
Assume that when working in a restaurant management group, your manager calls and inquiries
you to "update the dining space," then swiftly hangs up the phone without providing any
additional instructions. Many details are lacking from the manager's initial handoff. How do you
know what to ask?

Let us simply recap the concept of scope. The scope defines the boundaries of your project. You
establish the scope to help determine the project's resources, expenses, and timeframe.

In the situation stated above, below are some questions you could ask your manager to obtain the
information required for establishing the scope of the project:

Stakeholders
 How did you arrive at the decision to update the dining space?
 Did the request originate from the restaurant owner, customers, or other stakeholders?
 Who will approve the scope for the project?

Goals
 What is the reason for updating the dining space?
 What isn't working in the current dining space?
 What is the end goal of this project?

Deliverables
  Which dining space is being updated?
 What exactly needs to be updated?
 Does the dining space need a remodel?

Resources
 What materials, equipment, and people will be needed?
 Will we need to hire contractors?
 Will we need to attain a floor plan and building permits?

Budget
 What is the budget for this project? Is it fixed or flexible?

Schedule
 How much time do we have to complete the project?
 When does the project need to be completed?

Flexibility
 How much flexibility is there?
 What is the highest priority: hitting the deadline, sticking to the budget, or making sure
the result meets all the quality targets?
Monitoring and maintaining a projects scope (Video)
In-scope
Tasks that are included in the projects plan and contributed to the project’s goal

Out-of-scope
Taks that are not included in the projects plan and don’t contribute to the projects goal

Scope creep
Changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors that affect the project’s scope at any point after the
project begins
Video Question
What is scope creep?
 Changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors that affect a project scope at any point after
the project begins
Ex: Scope creep includes changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors that affect a project scope at
any point after the project begins. Scope creep is a common problem, and it's not always easy to
control. Scope creep includes changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors that affect a project
scope at any point after the project begins. Scope creep is a common problem, and it's not always
easy to control.

Sources of scope creep

 External
  Internal

External scope creep

 Customer requests
 Environment shifts
 Changes in technology

Solutions
 Make project plans visible
 Get clarity on project requirements
 Set ground rules and expectations for stakeholder involvement
 Create a plan for dealing with out-of-scope requests
 Put your agreements and plans in writing

Monitor projects scope and protect it at all costs. Even the most minor change can mean major
risk to your project’s success.
Strategies for controlling scope creep (Reading

In this session, we covered the significance of establishing and documenting a project's scope, as
well as how to identify scope creep reasons that can impede a project's aim. This reading shall
concentrate on how to manage scope creep.

Scope management best practices

A project's scope can swiftly spiral out of control, and at first you may neglect to recognize it.
Scope creep occurs when a project's work begins to exceed beyond was initially decided upon
during the starting phase. Scope creep may be stressful for you as well, your team, and your
employer, putting your project at danger. Scope creep can have a negative impact on every part
of the project, including the timeline, budget, and resources, as well as the overall success.

Here are some excellent techniques for scope management and preventing scope creep:

 Define your project’s requirements. Communicate with your stakeholders or customers

to find out exactly what they want from the project and document those requirements
during the initiation phase.
 Set a clear project schedule. Time and task management are essential for sticking to
your project’s scope. Your schedule should outline all your project’s requirements and
the tasks that are necessary to achieve them.
 Determine what is out of scope. Make sure your stakeholders, customers, and project
team understand when proposed changes are out of scope. Come to a clear agreement
about the potential impacts to the project and document your agreement.
  Provide alternatives. Suggest alternative solutions to your customer or stakeholder. You
can also help them consider how their proposed changes might create additional risks.
Perform a cost-benefit analysis, if necessary.
 Set up a change control process. During your project, some changes are inevitable.
Determine the process for how each change will be defined, reviewed, and approved (or
rejected) before you add it to your project plan. Make sure your project team is aware of
this process.
 Learn how to say no. Sometimes you will have to say no to the proposed changes.
Saying no to a key stakeholder or customer can be uncomfortable, but it can be necessary
to protect your project’s scope and its overall quality. If you are asked to take on
additional tasks, explain how they will interfere with the budget, timeline, and/or
resources defined in your initial project requirements.
 Collect costs for out-of-scope work. If out-of-scope work is required, be sure to
document all costs incurred. That includes costs for work indirectly impacted by the
increased scope. Be sure to indicate what the charges are for.
Practice assignment: Test your knowledge: Defining project scope

Question 1
Which of the following best describes the difference between in-scope and out-of-scope?
 Items within the project boundaries that are contributing to the project’s overall goal and
items that are not
Ex: It’s your job as a project manager to set firm boundaries for the project so the team can stay
on track.

Question 2
Which of the following best describes scope creep?
 Changing a project after it begins
Ex: Scope creep refers to changes, growth, and uncontrolled factors that affect a project scope at
any point after the project begins.

Question 3
What are some tactics to handle external scope creep? Select all that apply.
 Suggests alternative solutions to your customer’s or stakeholder’s proposed changes.
Ex: Providing alternative solutions to your customer or stakeholder might result in their deciding
against their proposed changes. You can also help them consider how their proposed changes
might create additional risks, and perform a cost-benefit analysis, if necessary.
 Define the project’s requirements
Ex: To ensure the project team agrees on the project’s goal, ask stakeholders for feedback on
what the project will produce, what resources are necessary, what costs are involved, and how
long the project will take. Then, document these requirements.
 Question 4
A designer on your project team suggests making changes to the product’s logo just prior to
launch. What’s a strategy that could help avoid this internal scope creep?
 Remind the designer about the project’s scope and the effects of internal scope creep
Ex: Any changes to the product or processes can affect the bottom line or schedule and risk
successfully completing the project.
Managing changes to a projects scope (Video)
Redefining the scope can change the goal, and a revision of the goal can change the scope.

Scope

Quality

Cost Time

Time refers to the project schedule and deadlines. Cost includes the budget,
and it also covers resources and the people who will work on the project.
Both time and budget have to be carefully managed alongside scope. All three of these are
linked; You can't change one without having an impact on the others. For example, a decrease in
cost means a change in time or scope. An increase in time means a change in scope or cost, or
both. Understanding how changing one impacts the other two constraints is key.
Video Question
When using the triple constraint model, what are the three restrictions a project manager
refers to? Select all that apply.
 Cost
Ex: Cost includes the budget, resources, and people who will work on the project.
 Scope
Ex: Scope includes the clearly defined and mapped out boundaries of a project.
 Time
Ex: Time refers to the project schedule and deadlines.

Making changes to the

product is a scope change

You can’t change the budget

You can extend the timeline

Reduce the budget

 Tighten up timeline

Can’t increase budget Make Changes to the scope

Scope
Time
Cost

Torie: The importance of staying within scope (Video)

“Scope creep is when the scope changes after the project already started.”
“Make sure you document everything at the start and share with your stakeholders and team
members and make sure everyone is in agreement on that scope.”
Optional: Reviewing the Triple Constraint (Reading)
As you’ve just learned, project managers may refer to the triple constraint model to manage
scope and control scope creep. It can serve as a valuable tool to help you negotiate priorities and
consider trade-offs.

For more information on using the triple constraint model in real-world circumstances as a
project manager, as well as how the triple constraint model has changed over time, we
recommend reading this article:
A Project Management Triple Constraint Example & Guide

Practice Quiz: Reflection: Applying the triple constraint

Question 1
In this quiz, you will practice applying the Triple Constraint (budget, time, scope) to the
following project scenario:

Imagine you are a User Experience (UX) Program Manager at a small design agency. You are
asked to manage an 8-week project for $800,000 USD. The project includes conducting field
research and synthesizing results. As the final deliverable, your agency will create a research
report and facilitate a 3-day workshop. You need to align with the client’s Vice President (VP) of
Design, Ria. Luckily, you have a team of five teammates to work on this project together!
  I’m ready!
Ex: Great! Now, compare your answers to the feedback below.
Question 2
Situation 1
During the scoping of this project, Ria says her budget maxes out at $650,000 USD—she can’t
afford the $800,000 USD that this project will cost. What are some proposals you can provide to
Ria to reduce the budget? Think of the Triple Constraint and remember that one constraint will
always have priority. So, if the budget is a constraint, what areas might Ria adjust to reduce
project costs? Write 2-3 sentences.

 In this situation, the Budget is a key constraint. To reduce project costs, we have to make
changes to the scope or tighten up the timeline.
Reduce the scope: Maybe we can convince Ria to have a 1-day workshop instead of a 3-
day
workshop. This will help trim the budget.
Reduce the time: If we can deliver just the research report presentation instead of a 3-day
workshop, we can trim the budget by shaving off the three workshop days. This also
reduces the
time we need to prepare for the workshop.
Ex: Did you write that the scope and time constraints are options to help reduce the
cost? Here’s an example proposal:
Reduce the scope: Maybe you can convince Ria to have a 1-day workshop instead of a 3-day
workshop. This will help trim the budget.
Reduce the time: If you can deliver just the research report presentation instead of a 3-day
workshop, you can trim the budget by shaving off the three workshop days. This also reduces the
time you need to prepare for the workshop.

Question 3
Situation 2
Recruiting for field research will take a week longer than expected. However, Ria told you that
the project end date is a hard deadline. What can you do? Think of the triple constraint and
remember that one of them will always have priority. So, if time is a constraint, what areas might
Ria adjust to reduce the time in the project? Write 2-3 sentences.

 Time is a constraint. To adhere to the hard deadline, we have to make changes to the
scope
or to the budget or to both.
Increase the budget: If we can increase the budget and add an additional field researcher,
we
could complete the research faster and meet the hard deadline.
Cut the scope: If we can eliminate sections in the research report, we could save time. Or
cut the
 workshop to a 1-day workshop to meet the deadline.
Ex: Did you write that the budget and scope constraints are options to help reduce
the time? Here’s an example proposal:
Increase the budget: If you can increase the budget and add an additional field researcher, you
could complete the research faster and meet the hard deadline.
Cut the scope: If you can eliminate sections in the research report, you could save time. Or,
similar to the example above, cut the workshop to a 1-day workshop to meet the deadline

Question 4
Situation 3
After the stakeholders agree on the project scope, Ria finds out that her CEO wants more
information in the research report. She asks you to include details on the market opportunities for
new product ideas, technical constraints, and design considerations. How do you manage this
additional scope? Write 2-3 sentences.

 In this situation, the time and cost constraints are options to help reduce the scope.
Decrease the time: If we can cut the depth of the initial market research, we will shave a
few
days off the project. This will allow additional time to work on the information on new
products at the end of the project.
Increase the cost: If Ria can agree to increase the project budget to accommodate her
CEO's
request, we can add additional team members to work on the expanded scope and meet
the
existing project timelines.
Ex: Did you write that the time and cost constraints are options to help reduce the scope? Here’s
an example proposal:
Decrease the time: If you can cut the depth of the initial market research, you will shave a few
days off the project. This will allow additional time to work on the information on new products
at the end of the project.
Increase the cost: If Ria can agree to increase the project budget to accommodate her CEO's
request, you can add additional team members to work on the expanded scope and meet the
existing project timelines.

Question 5
As a reminder, if there are changes in time, budget, and scope, remember to notify your project
sponsor and key stakeholder and make sure they’re aligned. In this specific example, you should
notify the internal stakeholders, so that they can make decisions about what to do about the
changes in the project, while considering the Triple Constraint.
 Alright!
Measuring a project’s success
Launching and landing a project (Video)
Launch
Delivering the final result of your project to the client or user

Landing
Measuring the success of your project using the success criteria established at the outset of the
project
Video Question
What is the project management term for delivering the final result of your project to the
client or user?
 Launch
Ex: The launch is when you finish building or creating your project and you’re ready to present it
to the client.
Video Question #2
What is the project management term for meeting the success criteria you establish at the
beginning of the project?
 Landing
Ex: While the launch is when you complete your project, the landing is once you determine it
works, and you satisfy your success criteria.
Don’t forget to land: Measuring project (Reading)

In this session, you'll learn how to discern between a project launch and a project landing. Let's
look at the difference between launches and landings, as well as how to ensure that your project
is successful.

Companies frequently celebrate the debut of a new product, service, or initiative, and it is vital to
remember that even after your project has been released, your work is not finished. When
working on a project, the goal is not to just start it, but to successfully complete it. Landings
occur when your project achieves a certain level of success. As project managers, landings are
something we aim for and celebrate. They represent the greatest reward for all of our efforts.
 Launching vs. landing a project
In project management, "launching" refers to delivering the project's final outcomes to the client
or user. However, project success cannot be determined based entirely on when the client accepts
the project. Your project will not be considered complete until you "land" it by thoroughly
measuring the results. This is when the attainment criteria and indicators you established when
developing SMART goals will come in useful.

Teams should be clear about what they want to accomplish beyond simply launching something
to people. Will your initiative improve retention? Will your project accelerate a product feature?
The responses will differ based on the product and predicament, but it is critical that your team is
aligned and working toward a common measurable goal.

Launch first, land later

Imagine you are a project manager for an eco-friendly organization. Your organization is
requiring you to develop a training program for middle school children in your county to teach
them about the benefits of recycling. The county aims to increase recycling by 20% over the next
five years. You gather your team and start generating learning content to fill out this training
program. This course requires one year of study, development, and production by you and your
team. subsequently deliver over the training to the school system, you start the project. To ensure
that your project meets its objectives, you should check in on a regular basis over the next five
years to determine if the training program is on track to achieve a 20% increase in recycling
throughout the county.
Launch and forget
A common mistake made by many project teams is to "launch and forget" the outcomes. This
occurs when a project manager delivers a project to a client, who accepts it, but the project
manager fails to analyze if the project deliverables satisfy the customer or user. In the above
scenario, if you had not checked back frequently throughout five years to review the outcomes,
you would have just launched—rather than landed—the project. Launching and landing work
together to guarantee true success.

A project launch should not introduce more obstacles. If done effectively, a landing increases
team alignment on the desired end goals, and it provides everyone on the team with a clearer
picture of how to succeed.
Defining success criteria
Success criteria
 Tells you whether or not the project was successful
 Specific details of project goals, deliverables, requirements, and expectations
 Standards of how the project will be judged once it has been delivered to stakeholders
Video Question
Which of the following terms tells you whether or not the project is successful?
 Success criteria
Ex: Stakeholders and the project manager define the success criteria at the beginning of a project.

Determining project success

 Identify the measurable aspects of your project
 Get clarity from stakeholders on the project requirements and expectations

Questions
 Who ultimately says whether or not a project is successful?
 What criteria will be measured to determine success?
 What success is the project based on?

Adoption
 Adoption refers to how customers use and adopt a product or service without any issues

Engagement
 How often or meaningful customer interaction and participation is over time
Video Questions #2
Which two terms are customer-related metrics to consider for success criteria?
 Adoption and engagement
Ex: Adoption refers to how the customer uses the product without any issues. Engagement refers
to how often customer interaction happens over time.
  Include methods for success will be measured, how often it’s measured, and who’s
responsible for measuring it.

 Have appropriate stakeholders sign off on success criteria

Video Question #3
Who will ultimately judge if the project meets its goals, deliverables, requirements, and
other success criteria?
 Stakeholders and customers
Ex: The success criteria should be clearly agreed upon at the beginning of the project. The
stakeholders and customers ultimately judge if the team meets the success criteria.

Define success criteria should create greater alignment within the team and give everybody
better visibility into how to achieve success
Tracking and communicating success criteria (Reading)

We recently examined embarking and landing projects, and now we'll focus on guaranteeing that
our landings are productive.

Recognize that SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
They help keep a project on track for success.

We can also determine a project's success based on the quality of the product, the ability to meet
the needs of your customers, and the necessity to meet the expectations of stakeholders. For this
reading, we'll talk about these specific success criteria, the metrics we use to track them, and how
and why we share our findings.
Product quality
The product, or end consequence, of a project has its own set of success criteria. Product
attributes important for success include feature completeness, feature quality, unit cost, usability,
and so on. The level of completion of a product will influence its success. This can be used to
any project that ends with the delivery of a product or physical outcome. To keep us on track for
success, we can make a list of product needs so that you don't overlook anything. For example, if
the project is developing word processing software, you'll need fundamental functionality like
text entering, formatting, saving, and printing. You put these characteristics on your checklist
since they are required for a functional word processor under today's standards.

To measure a product's success, take into account the following indicators on your checklist:
 Track if you implemented the product’s priority requirements
 Track and assess the product’s number of technical issues or defects
 Measure the percentage of features you delivered or released at the end of the project

What is important to the customers or stakeholders

We must pay attention to product metrics while also keeping stakeholder and consumer
expectations for features and objectives in mind. In the word processor example, a stakeholder
may want to include the ability to easily generate tables in a document with text. Furthermore,
the organization's strategic goal might be to develop word processor software with greater
collaboration capabilities than those now available on the market. Each component is required to
fulfill consumer and stakeholder expectations. Consider what needs the project meets for your
stakeholders or customers. These strategic goals are related to the business case and the reason
you started the project in the first place. User or customer metrics are frequently used to measure
the achievement of strategic objectives. Metrics to consider are:

 Evaluating user engagement with the product

 Measuring stakeholder and customer satisfaction via surveys
 Tracking user adoption of the product by using sales data

Document, align, and communicate success

Understanding where we are and where we are headed allows the project team to assess if they
are on track. As you learned in the video on this topic, you must obtain clarification from
stakeholders regarding project requirements and expectations. There are many people involved in
any project, and success will be different for each of them. You want to ask questions like: Who
decides whether the initiative is successful? What criteria will be used to determine success?
What factors determine the project's success? It is great practice to have key stakeholders, or the
steering committee examine and approve your success criteria. This leads to mutual agreement
on how all parties define the project's success.
Using OKRs to evaluate progress
In this session, you will learn how to define a project's success criteria, which are measurable
attributes used by project managers to judge the extent to which a project was successful overall.
This reading will concentrate on using OKRs to assess a project's progress.
 Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)

Communicating and tracking OKRs

Conducting regular check-ins and actively tracking progress with your team will assist in
ensuring that goals are completed, and issues are rectified as soon as feasible.

Share your OKRs with your team. Once you've established OKRs for your project, you should
convey them to your team so that everyone understands how to focus and align their efforts. You
can accomplish this by sharing a digital document, presenting it at a meeting, or uploading it to
an internal website. OKRs can assist your project team stick to its goals, monitor where it falls
short, and stay motivated to fulfill project objectives.

Assign owners. Assign an owner to each key outcome so that everyone understands who is
responsible for what. This improves clarity and responsibility.

Measuring progress
Measuring your OKRs is a key step toward tracking and reporting your progress. One quick way
to determine the state of a project is to evaluate or grade your OKRs. While scores or grades may
not provide a comprehensive evaluation of a project's success, they are useful tools for
measuring how close you came to meeting your goals. You can then communicate your OKR
ratings to project stakeholders and team members as part of your overall project updates.

Decide how your OKRs will be scored. There are various methods for scoring OKRs. The
achievement of specific milestones, a percentage of the goal accomplished, or a scale from 1 to
10 can all be used to determine your score. Another option is to employ a "traffic light" scoring
system, in which green indicates that you have accomplished your goal, yellow indicates that you
have made some progress, and red indicates that you have not made any.

The "yes/no" method is the most straightforward way to score OKRs; if you answered "yes," you
accomplished your goal, and if you answered "no," you didn't. Depending on whether it was
launched (1) or not (0), a key result like "Launch a new widget marketing campaign" can receive
a grade of 1 or 0.

Using a scale to rank your main findings is a more sophisticated scoring method. Using this
approach, the OKR may receive a grade of 0.5 if the primary outcome was to "Launch six new
features," but only three were introduced. Generally speaking, your OKR should score higher if
the KR assisted you in reaching the goal; if not, it should score lower.

OKRs at Google are typically scored on a 0.0–1.0 scale, where 1.0 indicates that the goal was
completely accomplished. The score for that OKR is calculated by averaging the grades for each
individual key result.

Decide how much you want to score. Setting ambitious OKRs and aiming for an average of at
least 0.6 to 0.7 across all OKRs is expected when using Google's 0.0–1.0 scale. The sweet spot
for OKRs that are assessed on percentage attained is between 60 and 70 percent. A lower score
could indicate that the squad isn't reaching its full potential. A higher score could indicate that the
aspirational goals are not being sufficiently raised.

Set up checkpoints. Regularly updating your team and senior managers on the status of project
OKRs is crucial. Monthly check-ins on the status of OKRs, for instance, can be beneficial in
helping individuals and your team understand where they stand. To assess how successfully the
team accomplished its objectives, you will usually grade each of your OKRs at the conclusion of
the quarter.
Review: Defining project goals, scope, and success criteria
Module 2 Challenge

Question 1
As a project manager, you’re using the SMART criteria to craft goals for your team. During the
process, you create goals that are a little challenging, but also encourage growth. In this instance,
which SMART criteria are you using?
 Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
Incorrect
Review the video on crafting SMART goals

Question 2
As project manager, you approve a team member’s request to change the order of
their tasks because they think it will be more efficient. However, this change
disrupts another team member’s work process: they need to do two additional tasks
that are not related to the project’s goal. What is this an example of?
Calibrating scope
Internalizing scope
 External scope creep
Internal scope creep
Incorrect
Please review the video on monitoring project scope

Question 3
Consider this Office Green scenario: A member of the marketing team suggests allowing
customers to choose from an additional three plant colors. Select all that apply.
What can help prevent project scope creep in this scenario? Select all that apply.
 Go along with the member’s suggestion
 Create a plan for dealing with out-of-scope requests
 Make project plans visible
 Get clarity on project requirements

Question 4
As a project manager for an online retailer, you meet with your company’s head of customer
service and are asked to establish a rewards program and monitor its effect on the number of
repeat online customers. Your team launches a finished website that introduces a new rewards
program and adds a link to the website on all new order confirmation emails. Which of the
following is a project goal in this scenario?
 Monitor the effect of a new rewards program on the number of repeat online customers
 Meet with your company’s head of customer service
 Launch a finished website that introduces a new rewards program
 Add a link to the rewards program website on all new order confirmation emails
Confirmation emails
 Question 5
As a project manager for an online retailer, you meet with your company’s head of customer
service and are asked to improve the response time to customer email inquiries by 15 percent by
the end of the first quarter. Your team creates email templates for responding to typical questions
from customers and produces an end-of-quarter report that shows a 17 percent improvement in
response time after your templates were implemented. Which of the following best represents the
success criteria for this project?
 A 15 percent improvement in response time at the end of the first quarter
 Approval from your company’s head of customer service
 Email templates for responding to typical questions from customers
 An end-of-quarter report that shows a 17 percent improvement in response time

Question 6
As a construction project manager, your crew has been hired to build a new warehouse for a
corporate customer. After a few weeks working on the project your customer announces that they
will need their warehouse completed several weeks sooner than originally expected, but that they
cannot spend more money on the project.
Using the triple constraint model, what trade-off could you use to meet your customer’s new
requirements?
 Change the project goals
 Change team roles
 Change the project scope
 Change the budget
o
Question 7
Which two of the following are examples of success criteria? Select all that apply.
Deliver training to all appropriate teams to ensure at least 98% of the teams are using the new
tool.
Meet company-wide objective of $50M in revenues.
 Create a new product feature that will satisfy customers.
Please review the video about defining success criteria.
 Implement a training service to meet company objectives.
Please review the video about defining success criteria

Question 8
What’s a main difference between the adoption and engagement metrics?
 Adoption replaces a business metric. Engagement complements other business metrics.
 Adoption is an external metric. Engagement is an internal metric.
 Adoption is generally a one-time occurrence. Engagement is ongoing.
 Adoption requires more expensive tools. Engagement requires less expensive tools.
 Question 9
A project manager launches a project to streamline a local city's school bus route
schedule to reduce the amount of time students are on the bus by 30%. What
scenario below demonstrates that the project manager landed at the intended goal?
 The project manager hands over the project to the client with all of the plans and
documents and considers the project a success.
 The project manager surveys the team members to ask how they feel about the
project success; their feedback is reviewed and determines the next team.
 The project manager completes the research and development required for the
plan and adds another county to compare success rates for the project.
 The project manager reviews the data in 3 months to determine if they reduced the
amount of time students spend on the bus by at least 30%.

Question 10
As a project manager you write OKRs for your team. How many key results should you try
to develop for each of your project objectives?
 At least six
 Two or three
 One
 Four or five