4 Tips on how to set goals for yourself

For personal development, it’s crucial to set goals. They help you build a development plan, create tasks to do in your spare time, and can lead to your promotion. I believe that goals should be adjustable and short-term to remain aligned with your current needs. Personally, I set goals for myself every quarter and would like to share my approach.

3 common mistakes people make when setting goals:

1. Considering mandatory work as a goal (e.g., Cover feature with tests)
2. Using abstract words that don’t make the goal specific and measurable (e.g., Become an independent contributor)
3. Making goals dependent on constraints unrelated to you (e.g., Finishing project X, for which nobody knows when it’s going to kick off)

Here are my hints and some examples for each.

Make them personal

Imagine you are going to leave your current position in three months. What skills or knowledge do you need to secure a better job and be more successful? If you encounter any pain points at work, focus on resolving them for personal growth.

If it’s not your own startup, set goals unrelated to the company you work for unless you can benefit from them, such as promotion, improved workload, or resolving recurring issues you have faced.

1. Read the three most popular books on giving feedback, write down learned techniques, and apply them with your reports
2. Automate routine task X to decrease paperwork by four hours per week
3. Sign up for and complete a management course on Coursera

Make them measurable

Some goals may be binary in nature, meaning they are either achieved or not, while others can be measured on a scale from 1 to 10. In my opinion, a measurable goal is one for which you know what has been accomplished and improved.

When setting your goal, think about the current state and how the situation could be enhanced. If the goal seems too abstract, consider focusing on a potential outcome one level lower. For example, a goal such as “Dedicate one day per week to bug fixes” could be improved with additional information like “Dedicate one day per week to bug fixes and decrease the number of negative reports by 15%”.

1. Increase test coverage from 80% to 95%
2. Write down action items from every retrospective session, assign a responsible person and deadline, and ensure that 80% of items are resolved before the end of Q3
3. Complete internal training to become a SCRUM master (an example of a goal that is either done or not)

Mix them up by time, urgency, and personal profit

Set yourself small goals and big goals. Include quick wins and goals that might be too complex to accomplish in one quarter. It’s important to have goals you can pursue in spare time, like one hour, and in a longer timeframe, such as multiple weeks. If the goal is significant, add multiple milestones, but keep the original goal in mind to not lose sight of it.

Many people don’t recommend setting more than 5 goals, but in my opinion, the more goals you have, the easier it is to find what to do depending on the situation. It’s better to finish 4 goals out of 10 than 3 out of 3.

1. Fix the problem with missing Slack notifications from TeamCity (small, quick win, urgent)
2. Create an online course for new employees with 8 hours of video materials on topics X, Y, Z (big, too complex for a quarter, not urgent, can have milestones like ‘Prepare a video on the topic X’ and eventually lead to a promotion)

Write them down and share

Share with people responsible for your promotion and those affected by your goals. For example, if you want to improve the team’s planning of sprints, let team members know first.

1. Start conducting skip-level report meetings to collect feedback on my reports (share this goal with reports to have them aligned).
2. Increase the number of sales in the US market by 35% (share with your manager and, if successful, make it a reason for your promotion).

Conclusion

There are many frameworks you might have heard about, like SMART or OKRs. Start setting goals for yourself, write down results, and adjust if needed. As I already mentioned, it’s better to finish 4 goals out of 10 than 3 out of 3. Remember that with proper goals every quarter, you will become a better professional!