The Art of Project Management

4.8. Examples of visions and goals

In this section, I provide some examples of good vision statements and project goals pulled from my own experience. Although I've changed the details, it's easy to imagine what working on these projects would be like, as well as what the goals underneath the visions might contain.

Here are examples of good vision statements:

• SuperEdit 3.0, the editing tool for experienced copy editors, will make the top five most frequent customer scenarios easier to use, more reliable, and faster to operate than SuperEdit 2.0.

• Superwidgets.com will be the premier widget-purchasing site on the Internet for purchasing agents at medium-size corporations. It will make the entire process of widget purchasing for medium-size businesses simple, easy, and safe.

• The Helpdesk Automated Services Site (HASS) Version 5.5 will address the top 10 customer complaints across the university, without any negative impact on average performance, reliability, or response time across the system.

As an example of good project goals, here's what the team of people that developed the Palm Pilot handheld organizer used to define their project:(2)

1. Size. Fit into a shirt pocket. Be light enough not to seem unwieldy.

2. Cost. Less than a luxury paper organizer ($300 USD).

3. Simplicity. It should be as simple as paper. Turns on instantly and uses simple conventions.

4. Sync with PC. Use the PC as a common point of interaction for the customer.

Good project goals like these are clear and simple, and describe ...