2025 08 06 good bad goals
good goal principles
Example: goals regarning “Collaboration Impact,” it should:
Be outcome-focused (something tangible exists because of your collaboration)
Be in your control (you can produce it without relying on others’ approval or recognition)
Encourage the right behaviors (clarity, unblock progress, strengthen team delivery)
Be measurable without being purely about vanity metrics
Types of goals
Goal are everywhere! Goals are linked! There really isn’t a hard boundary between one type of goal and another type of goal: they’re all connected.
Learning goals help us focus on what we need to learn
Milestones are generally useful constructs (e.g., milestones for decisions, milestones for defining an opportunity, etc.)
Delivery goals. Hey, without inputs, you have no outputs :)
Initiative goals: the proximate impact of an experiment, initiative, etc.
Launch-related goals, where we begin tackling commercialization, adoption, and other related objectives.
Input goals, which represent increases/decreases in key, stable, actionable inputs
North Star goals—where we want the North Star Metric to be by a certain point in time
Annual goals around key (but lagging) business KPIs, customer outcomes, etc.
Source https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-216-good-goalsbad-goals?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Good and bad goals summary
Here’s a mind map of the blogpost so you can remember the main points at a glance.
🌟 What Makes a Good Goal?
1. Core Definition
- An enabling constraint → narrows focus + encourages good things to happen
- Has guardrails → limits downsides & promotes upsides
- Not just 1 metric or 1 action
2. Influence & Sustainability
- Good: Achievable through actions you control, sustainable results
- Bad: Not influenceable, or influenceable only by sacrificing long-term health
3. Decision Filtering
- Good: More "good" yesses, fewer "bad" yesses; pushes back on distractions
- Bad: No weight or bite → one of many “top priorities”
4. Context & Purpose
- Good: Fits in bigger picture, assumptions clear, adaptable with new info
- Bad: Exists in isolation, unclear why it matters, zombie goals never change
5. Adaptability
- Good: Flexible with changing circumstances, keeps core purpose
- Bad: Rigid, leads to executing irrelevant plan
6. Reflection & Creativity
- Good: Triggers thinking, avoids premature convergence, matches task complexity
- Bad: Overly simplistic, autopilot thinking, low-leverage outcomes
7. Alignment & Fulfillment
- Good: Coherent with values & aspirations, feels significant
- Bad: Disconnected, disillusioning, bar always rising
8. Team Cohesion
- Good: Brings people together, unity, shared purpose
- Bad: Encourages unhealthy competition, conflicting departmental goals
9. Meaning vs. Measurement
- Good: Prioritizes meaningfulness, accepts imperfect measurement
- Bad: Safe, shallow measures chosen over meaningful impact
10. Tool for the Team
- Good: Helps decision-making, reduces risk, improves outcomes
- Bad: Imposed, performative, you work for the goal instead of the goal working for you
11. Guiding Question
- “What behaviors will this goal encourage?”
- Don’t set a goal for everything — only where it adds value
Source: https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-216-good-goalsbad-goals?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email