Strategy & Direction · master area

Goals & Objectives

Translating vision into measurable bets the team can hold itself to. Goals are time-bound, measurable, anchored to a named person. Objectives nest under goals. Predictions nest under objectives.

Owners: Leadership, PO Phase it lives in: Why We Build → Direction (Volume II) The corpus principle this enacts: Predictions over plans.

Where it lives in the chain

• Before We Build · Direction · Goals — the canon
• Before We Build · Direction · OKRs — the operational form

The ladder

Vision        → "A world where Gal grades with confidence and clarity."
↓
Goal (3-12mo) → "Reduce the median grading session for our pilot schools from 47 minutes to under 15."
↓
Objective     → "Ship the grading shortcut and measure adoption."
↓
Prediction    → "After release on 2026-05-25, median session under 15 min by 2026-06-25 at adoption ≥60%."
↓
Initiative/Feature/Story → the work that produces the prediction

Each layer is testable against the layer above. A goal that doesn't ladder up to the vision is misframed. An objective that doesn't ladder to a goal is busywork. A prediction without an objective is a wish.

How to do this

• Time-bound — every goal has a date. "This quarter" is not. "By 2026-09-30" is.
• Measurable — every goal has a number. "Improve grading efficiency" is not. "Median session under 15 minutes for pilot schools" is.
• Person-anchored — every goal has a named person whose life it changes. "Reduce friction" is not. "Gal completes Friday grading before 5pm" is.
• Few — three to five goals per organisation per year. More than five and the team has no goals; it has aspirations.

What good practice looks like

Goals are named at the start of the year, read at every cycle's Direction review, revised once mid-year if reality changed. Goals revised every cycle are not goals; they are roadmap items. Goals that go untouched for a year are also not goals; they are wallpaper.

The PO holds the link between cycle work and the goals. Every Feature Brief references the goal it serves; every prediction is a step toward measuring the goal's progress. When the signal reading comes in, the PO updates not just the brief but the goal's progress note — "Q2 progress: pilot schools median 22 minutes (target <15). Gap traced to: shortcut adoption stalled at 70% in two schools where Hebrew support is missing."

Related crafts

• Vision & Mission — what goals serve
• Initiative Identification — what goals call for
• Prediction Writing — what nests under objectives