Your Goals Need Room to Breathe: A Framework for Engineering Leaders
Setting goals is a fundamental part of personal and professional growth. Whether you aim to launch a new product, improve a key business metric, or achieve a personal milestone, defining your goals can make or break your chances of success.
Surprisingly, the most significant contributor to achieving your goals isn’t just hard work or resources—it’s how you define those goals in the first place.
This article will explain a simple yet powerful framework for evaluating and defining your goals. By understanding two key characteristics—how ambitious your goal is and how specific or broad its definition is—you can predict the likelihood of success and adjust your approach accordingly.
This framework applies equally to business objectives and personal aspirations, making it a versatile tool for anyone looking to achieve more.
The Two Dimensions of Goal-Setting
When defining a goal, there are two critical dimensions to consider:
- Is the goal modest or ambitious?
- Modest goals are smaller, more achievable targets, while ambitious goals are larger, more transformative, and often require significant effort and innovation.
- Is the goal’s definition broad or specific?
- Broad goals leave room for interpretation and flexibility, while a tight definition with precise requirements and constraints results in specific goals.
By mapping your goals against these two dimensions, you can better understand the effort required, the likelihood of success, and the best way to approach them.
Modest Goals: Easy Wins with Room for Complexity
Modest goals are the low-hanging fruit of goal-setting. They’re achievable with relatively little effort, mainly when defined broadly. For example, the “Allow users to review their app usage” goal is modest and broad. It’s a straightforward feature without much complexity, so it’s simple to implement and achieve.
However, if you add specific requirements to a modest goal, it becomes more challenging. For instance, if you refine the goal to “Allow users to review their app usage, filter by usage type, view beautiful charts, and compare their usage with other users," the effort required increases significantly. While achievable, the added specificity demands more time, resources, and attention to detail.
Key Takeaway
If you want quick wins, keep your modest goals broad. If you need to add specificity, you must invest more effort—but know that the goal remains within reach.
Ambitious Goals: The Power of Flexibility
Ambitious goals are where things get interesting—and challenging. These goals push boundaries, like “Reduce 3-month churn by 50%." When defined broadly, ambitious goals are achievable because they open the solution space. You can explore multiple strategies, experiment with different approaches, and adapt as you learn what works.
The problem arises when you add specific constraints to an ambitious goal. For example, if you redefine the churn reduction goal to “Reduce 3-month churn by 50% by adding an AI chatbot," you’ve significantly narrowed the solution space. Instead of exploring all possible ways to reduce churn, you’re limited to a single, highly specific solution. That dramatically reduces your likelihood of success, as the constraint may not align with the root cause of the problem or the most effective solution.
Key Takeaway
When pursuing ambitious goals, keep the definition broad for creativity and flexibility. If you need to be specific, consider breaking the ambitious goal into smaller, modest goals that build toward the larger objective. When you achieve one and are ready to move to the next, you will have learned new things and may revisit the whole plan.
Applying the Framework to Personal Goals
This framework isn’t just for business—it’s equally applicable to personal goals. Let’s say you want to get fit. A modest, broad goal might be “Exercise more." That is easy to achieve because it’s flexible and doesn’t impose strict requirements. If you add specificity, like “Exercise for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, focusing on cardio and strength training," the goal becomes more challenging but remains achievable.
On the other hand, an ambitious personal goal like “Running a marathon in under 4 hours” requires a broad approach. You’ll need to train consistently, adjust your diet, and possibly work with a coach. If you add specific constraints, like “Run a marathon in under 4 hours by only running on weekends," you’re limiting your ability to train effectively and reducing your chances of success.
Key Takeaway
For personal goals, match specificity to ambition. Keep ambitious goals broad to allow for adaptability, and use specificity to make modest goals more actionable.
Practical Steps for Defining Your Goals
- Start by assessing the ambition level of your goal.
- Is it modest or ambitious? Be honest about the scale of the challenge.
- Decide how specific or broad the goal should be.
- If the goal is modest, you can afford to be specific. If it’s ambitious, keep it broad to avoid unnecessary constraints.
- Break down ambitious goals into smaller, specific milestones.
- For example, instead of aiming to “Become a thought leader in your industry," start with “Publish one article per month on industry trends."
- Regularly review and adjust your goals.
- As you progress, revisit your goals to ensure they align with your vision and resources.
Final Thoughts
The way you define your goals is critical to their success. By understanding the interplay between ambition and specificity, you can set yourself up for achievable wins and transformative breakthroughs. Whether tackling a business challenge or pursuing a personal dream, this framework provides a clear roadmap for realizing your aspirations.
Remember:
- Modest + Broad = Easy
- Modest + Specific = Achievable with effort
- Ambitious + Broad = Achievable with effort
- Ambitious + Specific = Unlikely to happen
Use this framework to guide your goal-setting process, and you’ll be well on your way to achieving more personally and professionally.