SMART Goals
Definition
SMART goals are goals written to satisfy five criteria — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound — a checklist introduced by George Doran in 1981 to make objectives verifiable rather than vague. SMART is a quality test applied to the wording of an individual goal, not a system for running an organization.
Applied properly, the test converts an intention into a sentence that can be graded at a date. 'Improve customer retention' fails four of the five criteria; 'Raise 12-month logo retention from 78% to 85% by 31 December' passes all five. Specific, Measurable and Time-bound are mechanical checks anyone can apply. Achievable and Relevant are judgment calls that depend on context, and they are where most disagreement in a planning session actually sits. Some variants substitute Assignable or Realistic.
SMART examines one goal in isolation, which is where its scope ends. It says nothing about how many goals a team should hold at once, how goals connect across levels, or how often they should be reviewed — so an organization can carry a hundred flawlessly SMART goals and still have no priorities. Frameworks such as OKRs and 4DX wrap the same wording test inside a cadence and a hard limit on count.
Example
Vague: 'Get better at hiring.' SMART: 'Cut median time-to-offer for engineering roles from 41 days to 28 days by 30 June, without offer acceptance falling below 80%.'
See also: goal tracking