Setting goals means taking a direction

Have you ever heard of a ship sailing in the sea without any direction? How it will reach its final destination? Likewise, how will a software development company be successful and will survive in a highly competitive environment without a clear vision of future and a mission to follow?

Both concepts- a software development company mission and vision- are an important part of the company strategy for the future. They need to be clearly and shortly defined after some discussions at a management level and present the idea of the company’s direction to its final destination. The idea for final destination should be regularly predefined by the management team but will always be related to a few results- i.e.: success measured through more clients, more software development projects and a higher profit.

Company goals are based on company mission and vision.

Goals are important at different levels in a software development company

Management representatives in each highly ranked software development company need to create or update its company goals on an annual basis which will contribute to achieving the company mission and vision which is defined.

Furthermore a main requirement for a favourable ISO9001 certification audit of a software development company is exactly the implementation of the following prerequisites:

• Defining a company mission statement
• Crafting a company vision statement
• Creating and updating company goals.

Otherwise you can consider that the consultant preparing the company for a certification audit has not done their job properly which may lead to an auditor writing recommendations for improvement, or even worse- the company being refused a certificate.

If we consider that this level of goal setting is a strategic level in a software development company, then we can differentiate a lower level at which separate goals in a software development project level could also be defined.

For a Scrum team these project goals are discussed during a Sprint planning meeting at the beginning of each Sprint where an assessment of what can be accomplished by the software development team during the upcoming Sprint is made. Based on this a Product Backlog is created and its full implementation leads to meeting the Sprint goal. As a result the whole Scrum team works goal-driven as a single unit aimed at satisfying the Sprint goal that will be assessed during the Sprint review.

Even at a lower level I would say that a separate task completion is a goal achievement of a single developer that contributes to the teamwork in a Scrum team during the Sprint. What do I want to explain here?

First of all, developers need to select by themselves the tasks they will work on from the Product Backlog- if a PM assigns tasks to developers in your software development company, you need to check whether you are really Scrum or rather Scrumbut (fill the questionnaire). So by selecting their own tasks they set as a main goal for themselves the completion of these tasks leading to a successful Sprint end.

Then the time estimation is given, so that the whole team can plan the overall work progress and project timing. In this way, a goal related to the time needed for a task completion is created. In addition to that, the client will be informed about when their product will be delivered.

Work goal- driven and enjoy it

I advise developers to plan at the end of the day which actually means setting goals for every new day. In this way they have the opportunity to consider carefully their strategy for a successful day at work and then they will do their best to accomplish whatever they have planned and thus achieve the goal of the day. The result will be plenty of examples on how a goal-driven daily routine makes your work process easier, more productive and efficient.

Defining goals at each level means that you have the opportunity to assess performance- goals against actual accomplishment. This is an important fact that will give you an idea of the weaknesses and strengths in different aspects of the software development work and process. Based on this analysis you can make a plan of improvements and set goals, of course, based on this plan. All efforts will lead to changes in the work processes and will probably increase the productivity of all employees.

Conclusion

Work based on setting goals at different levels means a permanent eagerness for change usually in a positive direction. Only goal-driven work found on a defined software development company vision can ensure progress and competitiveness in a high-tech world.

Always take the opportunity to create goals and you will have a clear idea where you are going at any time. This is very important especially if you are running a whole company and have a responsibility for a bunch of people.

List your software development company goals.

Is your company development based on defined goals? If not, how do you define the direction you want to follow?