I regularly do treadmill jogging to improve my health.
When I exercise I use several metrics to track my progress. The main ones are distance, speed, burned calories and time. I often mix them up like “Time taken for a specific distance” or inversely “Distance in a specific amount of time”.
When I start a session, I set myself a goal to improve on one or more of those metrics, every single time. Having a goal keeps me engaged and focused on what I am doing.
However, achieving a goal is irrelevant. I don’t care whether or not the goal is met.
For instance, I may start a session with the goal “Longer time” and discover that my body can’t handle it. I will adapt to the new circumstances and modify the goal to “Fastest minute”.
The goal in itself is meaningless, what matters is “Am I improving?”. And yes, I am.
Managing a product in an environment filled with uncertainties is similar.
We use Product Goals to engage our teams and to create efficiency; we shouldn’t care if we achieve them or not. What matters is “are we moving forward enough for the investment we put in?” where “moving forward” may mean “progressing toward our vision” or “learning something new”.
This is drastically different from the “old” approach of laying down objectives on a product map expecting teams to achieve them on time, on schedule and on budget.
If this is your situation, take on treadmill jogging.
