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SMART criteria
SMART is a mnemonic acronym, giving criteria to guide in the setting of objectives,
for example in project management, employee-performance management and
personal development. The letters S and M usually mean specific and measurable.
The other letters have meant dierent things to dierent authors, as described below.
Additional letters have been added by some authors.
SMART criteria are commonly attributed to Peter Drucker's management by
objectives concept.[1] The first-known use of the term occurs in the November 1981
issue of Management Review by George T. Doran.[2] The principal advantage of
SMART objectives is that they are easier to understand, to do, and then be reassured
that they have been done.

Contents
History
Other definitions
Additional criteria
Developing SMART goals
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
See also
References

History

The November 1981 issue of Management Review contained a paper by George T.

Doran called There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and
objectives.[2][3] It discussed the importance of objectives and the diculty of setting
them.

Ideally speaking, each corporate, department, and section objective

should be:
Specific target a specific area for improvement.
Measurable quantify or at least suggest an indicator of
progress.
Assignable specify who will do it.
Realistic state what results can realistically be achieved, given
available resources.
Time-related specify when the result(s) can be achieved.
Notice that these criteria dont say that all objectives must be
quantified on all levels of management. In certain situations it is
not realistic to attempt quantification, particularly in staff middlemanagement positions. Practising managers and corporations can
lose the benefit of a more abstract objective in order to gain
quantification. It is the combination of the objective and its action
plan that is really important. Therefore serious management
should focus on these twins and not just the objective.
George T. Doran, There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write
management's goals and objectives[2][3]

Other definitions
Each letter in SMART refers to a dierent criterion for judging objectives. Dierent
sources use the letters to refer to dierent things. Typically accepted criteria are as
follows.

Letter

Most common

Alternative

Specific[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]

Measurable[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Motivational, manageable, meaningful

Achievable[4][7][8][10][12][13]

Significant, stretching, simple, sustainable

Appropriate, agreed,[6][14] assignable,

attainable,[11] actionable, actionoriented,[5] adjustable, ambitious,[9]
aligned with corporate goals,[15]
aspirational, acceptable, aggressive

Relevant[4][7][10][12][16]

Result-based, results-oriented,
resourced,[16] resonant,
realistic,[6][8][9][11][14][13] reasonable[5]

Time-bound[4][7][8][9]

Time-oriented, time-framed, timed, timebased,[10] timeboxed, time-specific,

timetabled, time limited,[12] time/cost
limited,[6] trackable, tangible, timely,[5]
time-sensitive,[11] timeframe[13]

Choosing certain combinations of these labels can cause duplication, such as

selecting 'attainable' and 'realistic', or can cause significant overlapping as in
combining 'appropriate' and 'relevant' for example. The term 'agreed' is often used in
management situations where buy-in from stakeholders is desirable (e.g. appraisal
situations). The first column of terms provides an adequate starting structure.

Additional criteria
Some authors have added additional letters giving additional criteria. Examples are
given below.
SMARTER
Evaluated and reviewed[4]
Evaluate consistently and recognize mastery[5]
SMARTTA
Trackable and agreed[13]

Developing SMART goals

Paul J. Meyer describes the characteristics of S.M.A.R.T. goals in Attitude is

Everything.[17]

Specific
The criterion stresses the need for a specific goal rather than a more general one.
This means the goal is clear and unambiguous; without vagaries and platitudes. To
make goals specific, they must tell a team exactly what's expected, why it's
important, whos involved, where it's going to happen and which attributes are
important.
A specific goal will usually answer the five 'W' questions:
What: What do I want to accomplish?
Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
Who: Who is involved?
Where: Identify a location.
Which: Identify requirements and constraints.

Measurable
The second criterion stresses the need for concrete criteria for measuring progress
toward the attainment of the goal. The thought behind this is that if a goal is not
measurable it is not possible to know whether a team is making progress toward
successful completion. Measuring progress is supposed to help a team stay on track,
reach its target dates and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs it on
to continued eort required to reach the ultimate goal.
A measurable goal will usually answer questions such as:
How much?
How many?
How will I know when it is accomplished?
Indicators should be quantifiable

Attainable
The third criterion stresses the importance of goals that are realistic and also
attainable. Whilst an attainable goal may stretch a team in order to achieve it, the
goal is not extreme. That is, the goals are neither out of reach nor below standard
performance, since these may be considered meaningless. When you identify goals

that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them
come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills and financial capacity to reach
them. The theory states that an attainable goal may cause goal-setters to identify
previously overlooked opportunities to bring themselves closer to the achievement of
their goals.
An achievable goal will usually answer the question How?
How can the goal be accomplished?
How realistic is the goal based on other constraints?

Relevant
The fourth criterion stresses the importance of choosing goals that matter. A bank
manager's goal to "Make 50 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by 2pm" may be
specific, measurable, attainable and time-bound but lacks relevance. Many times you
will need support to accomplish a goal: resources, a champion voice, someone to
knock down obstacles. Goals that are relevant to your boss, your team, your
organization will receive that needed support.
Relevant goals (when met) drive the team, department and organization forward. A
goal that supports or is in alignment with other goals would be considered a relevant
goal.
A relevant goal can answer yes to these questions:
Does this seem worthwhile?
Is this the right time?
Does this match our other eorts/needs?
Are you the right person?
Is it applicable in the current socio- economic environment?

Time-bound
The fifth criterion stresses the importance of grounding goals within a time-frame,
giving them a target date. A commitment to a deadline helps a team focus their
eorts on completion of the goal on or before the due date. This part of the SMART
goal criteria is intended to prevent goals from being overtaken by the day-to-day
crises that invariably arise in an organization. A time-bound goal is intended to
establish a sense of urgency.

A time-bound goal will usually answer the question

When?
What can I do six months from now?
What can I do six weeks from now?
What can I do today?

See also
Management by objectives
Performance indicator
Strategic planning
PDCA
SWOT analysis

References
1. Bogue, Robert. "Use S.M.A.R.T. goals to launch management by objectives
plan" . TechRepublic. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
2. Doran, G. T. (1981). "There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and
objectives". Management Review (AMA FORUM) 70 (11): 3536.
3. Why SMART objectives don't work

(N.B. This sources gives "wins" in the last

sentence of the quote but the original paper gives "twins").

4. Yemm, Graham (2013). Essential Guide to Leading Your Team : How to Set Goals,
Measure Performance and Reward Talent . Pearson Education. pp. 3739.
ISBN 0273772449. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
5. Piskurich, George M. (2011). Rapid Instructional Design : Learning ID Fast and
Right . John Wiley & Sons. p. 132. ISBN 1118046927. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
6. Richman, Larry (2011). Improving Your Project Management Skills . AMACOM
Division of American Management Association. p. 65. ISBN 0814417299. Retrieved
2013-07-11.
7. Frey, Bruno S.; Osterloh, Margit (2002). Successful Management by Motivation :
Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Incentives . Springer. p. 234. ISBN 3540424016.
Retrieved 2013-07-11.
8. Lawler, John; Bilson, Andy (2013). Social Work Management and Leadership :
Managing Complexity with Creativity . Routledge. pp. 8485. ISBN 1135247056.
Retrieved 2013-07-14.
9. Poister, Theodore H. (2008). Measuring Performance in Public and Nonprofit

Organizations . John Wiley & Sons. p. 63. ISBN 047036517X. Retrieved

2013-07-14.
10. Ryals, Lynette; McDonald, Malcolm (2012). Key Account Plans : The
practitioners' guide to profitable planning . Routledge. p. 268. ISBN 1136390650.
Retrieved 2013-07-14.
11. Shahin, Arash; Mahbod, M. Ali (2004). "Prioritization of key performance
indicators: An integration of analytical hierarchy process and goal setting" .
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management (Emerald) 56
(3): 226240. doi:10.1108/17410400710731437 . Retrieved 2013-07-14.
12. Siegert, Richard J; Taylor, William J (2004). "Theoretical aspects of goal-setting
and motivation in rehabilitation" . Disability & Rehabilitation (Informa) 26 (1): 18.
doi:10.1080/09638280410001644932 . Retrieved 2013-07-14.
13. Dwyer, Judith; Hopwood, Nicole (2010). Management Strategies and Skills.
McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780070277670.
14. Mentioned as an alternative in Yemm, Graham (2013)
15. Mentioned as an alternative in Piskurich, George M. (2011)
16. Mentioned as an alternative in Lawler, John; Bilson, Andy (2013)
17. Meyer, Paul J (2003). "What would you do if you knew you couldnt fail? Creating
S.M.A.R.T. Goals". Attitude Is Everything: If You Want to Succeed Above and
Beyond . Meyer Resource Group, Incorporated, The. ISBN 978-0-89811-304-4.
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