SMARTER Goals – Ideation Exercise #8

Developing goals helps you organize and evaluate the innovation process.

1. Fill out your SMARTER Goals in the following exercise.
2. Consider your identified possible innovation, then write SMARTER Goals for the organization and execution of your innovation.

What each letter represents:

S is for Specific – be specific enough that if someone was to look at your goal that person could pick it up where you left off and continue the process.

M is for Measurable – is the quantitative part of your goals. Quantitative means numbers. This goal would need to be measured in a quantity. As an example, if you wanted to ask five people for feedback you could judge your goal as a success if you received feedback from all five.

A is for Action – action…in other words, how are you going to get up and make it happen? Stop sitting around and talking about it.

R is for Realistic – being realistic about something is to say you are physically capable of doing it. You can’t fly, but you might be able to run or drive.

T is for Time . Set timelines to get things done.

E is for environment - write about who this innovation will affect besides you and your end-user. As an example, if you are a parent, think about how this will affect your children or other people in the same location.

R is for rewards – acknowledge accomplishments with a reward system.  What is your reward if you or the end-user accomplishes this goal?

*An example of this exercise can be found in the Appendix.