Break Down Your Goal: Transforming Big Goals into Manageable, Actionable Steps
Just like in goal setting, project planning is about using your resources wisely — efficiently and effectively (see Defining Goals). At first glance, detailed planning might seem like extra effort. Maybe you already have numerous ideas swirling in your head about how to achieve your goal. That's great! But if you just dive in, you risk falling into the notorious onion problem.
The Onion Problem: Why Spontaneous Actions Often Backfire
Projects can be divided into different phases. According to A. Hemmrich, these are the Definition Phase, Planning Phase, Realization Phase, and Implementation Phase. There are, of course, numerous other models and approaches, but the core point remains the same: if you invest too little time in the first two phases — the definition and planning — you'll have to expend more resources in the later phases.
Hemmrich illustrates this with a pyramid: you start at the top and work your way down, with the phases becoming increasingly effortful. If you neglect the upper levels, the pyramid turns into an onion — the effort balloons, deadlines are missed, and resources are used inefficiently.
How to Avoid the Onion Problem
Simply put, there are three essential steps to circumvent the onion problem:
Define Clear Goals: Think carefully about what you want to achieve (see Defining Goals).
Create an Appropriate Project Plan: Develop a sensible plan for your task.
Stay Flexible: Stick to your plan but be ready to adjust it if necessary.
From personal experience, I can say: when I started in project management, I invested an enormous amount of time in planning. That's fundamentally positive, but there's a "but." It's about finding the right balance — the optimum. As the graphic above shows, if you spend too much time in goal definition and planning, the sleek pyramid can turn into a bulky block. That's something we want to avoid as well.
Another reason why comprehensive detailed planning at the beginning of a project can be disadvantageous lies in uncertainty. Often, it's not yet clear what the end goal should look like exactly — which functions are truly necessary, which requirements need to be prioritized. Additionally, estimates of effort and duration are often inaccurate at this early stage. To deal with these uncertainties, there are agile methods, which we will explain in detail in a later article. Too early detailed planning often leads to the plan having to be constantly adjusted, which is inefficient. Therefore, we do not recommend detailed planning at this point.
How to Create an Appropriate Plan
To understand what an "appropriate" plan is, we should first ask what the goals of project planning are. As mentioned, it's about using resources efficiently and effectively. This means neither working on irrelevant tasks nor investing more resources in certain areas than necessary for achieving the goal.
An appropriate project plan gives you clarity about what you work on, when, and what outcome you aim for. At this point, we deliberately avoid considering the time effort of each task. For now, we focus on the work steps and the desired results.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Project Plan
1. When Breaking Down Large Goals into Manageable Steps
Start with your main goal and identify the necessary intermediate results to achieve it. Think of it like a recipe: to bake a pizza, you need dough, sauce, and toppings. Each of these elements is an intermediate goal. Break down each intermediate goal further into concrete steps. This way, you turn a big goal into many small, manageable tasks.
2. Arrange the Tasks Logically
Put the tasks in a sensible order. It would be pointless to bake the pizza before you've prepared the toppings.
3. Check Your Understanding of the Tasks
Consider whether you fully understand each task. Try to roughly estimate the effort for each step. It's not about exact numbers but about determining whether you've broken down the task enough to make it manageable. If you can't estimate how much effort a task requires, break it down further into smaller steps.
4. Decide on Resource Allocation
Think about which tasks you want to do yourself, which you can delegate, and where it makes sense to use ready-made solutions. Plan how to use your resources most effectively.
Note on step 3: There are various methods for effort estimation, which we'll cover in a later article. For now, just focus on whether you understand the task comprehensively enough to roughly estimate its effort. Always remember: the goal of your planning is to identify and understand the necessary steps that will lead you to your goal.
Practical Example: Mia's Path to a Rough Plan
To transfer theory into practice, let's look at Mia's example. In the last article, Mia defined her goal: she wants to develop a video chat application. Now she begins with the rough project planning.
With her goal definition in mind, she first thinks about sub-goals:
- Building the Infrastructure:
- Setting up servers
- enabling communication between clients
- ...
- Developing the Program:
- Designing the user interface
- programming background services
- ...
- Defining and Writing Software Tests
- . Marketing: Although she doesn't want to handle this area herself, she plans the work package "finding a collaborator."
In the other areas, she begins to further subdivide the sub-goals, utilizing effective resource management strategies and assessing resource availability.
Mia decides to design the user interface as a Single Page Application (SPA). The services should run in containers. She needs a code repository for her code, a CI pipeline for the containers, and has to take care of container hosting. With that, she has already identified some rough work areas for the infrastructure part. For the moment, that's sufficient for her to understand what needs to be done in each area. However, she plans to break down her sub-goals one or two levels deeper.
When it comes to the sub-goal "defining tests," Mia thinks of tests for the user interface, the background services, and the infrastructure. She briefly estimates how many tests might be required in each area and notes this information.
As the next step, Mia plans a detailed approach for the user interface and the background services. She wants to use a method she knows from her work: "Event Storming." (see Event Storming)
Mia thinks through her sub-goals and tasks and now has a clear picture of what needs to be done in each area. It's easy for her to arrange the work packages in a logical order and to roughly estimate the effort. But before she continues with that, she wants to take care of finding a collaborator. More on that in the next article.
Summary: Effective Goal Setting and Planning
By creating a clear rough plan, you're laying the foundation for the success of your project. You now know how to break down your goals into manageable steps and use your resources efficiently. In the next article, we'll dive deeper into detailed planning and see how you can further refine your plan.
Q&A: Understanding Goal Setting
Q&A Understanding Goal Setting
To effectively set and achieve your goals, it is crucial to understand the process of breaking down big ambitions into actionable steps. This Q&A guide will help you navigate the complexities of goal setting, ensuring you can set clear, achievable targets that align with your values and vision.
Q1: What is Effective Goal Setting?
Effective goal setting is about defining clear goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART). By using smart goal-setting techniques, you can transform your vision for your future into a structured plan. Setting goals helps you align your daily actions with your big picture goals, ensuring your efforts are directed towards achieving your long-term goals.
The Journal of Applied Psychology emphasizes that goals act as a roadmap, helping you prioritize important tasks. When you set goals that are clear and actionable, you can track your progress towards your goal more efficiently. Clear goal setting helps you break down large goals into smaller, manageable tasks, making it easier to track your progress and adjust your goal as needed.
Q2: How to Break Down Your Goal?
Breaking down big goals into smaller, manageable steps is crucial for turning your ambitions into reality. Start by identifying the big goal you want to achieve and let’s break it into specific goals that are easier to tackle. This process involves setting short-term goals and medium-term goals that act as milestones on your journey.
Once you break down your goal, you should prioritize each step according to its importance and urgency. By doing so, you ensure that your goals align with your values and help you achieve your desired outcomes. Breaking down goals is like writing a novel; you need to plan for achieving each chapter before completing the entire book.
Q3: Why is it Important to Set SMART Goals?
Setting SMART goals is important because it provides a clear framework for achieving your goals. By ensuring your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound, you create a solid foundation for success. SMART goal setting helps you define your goals clearly, making it easier to break down large goals into smaller steps.
SMART goals help you focus on what you want to achieve, track your progress, and make necessary adjustments along the way. This approach helps you prioritize your actions and ensure your goals align with your personal and professional life, ultimately helping you achieve your life goals.
Q4: How Can You Achieve Your Goals Through Actionable Steps?
Transforming your goals into actionable steps is essential for achieving them. Start by identifying the steps you need to take to reach your goals. This involves breaking down big goals into smaller, manageable steps and prioritizing them based on importance and feasibility.
By setting daily goals and regularly reviewing your progress, you can ensure that your actions align with your long-term goals. Actionable steps provide a clear path toward your goals, helping you focus on achieving our goals and making progress toward your goal every day. Remember, the key is to make a plan and stick to it, adjusting as necessary to stay on track.
Q5: What Role Does Planning Play in Goal Achievement?
Planning is a critical component of goal achievement. It involves outlining a roadmap of smaller steps and milestones that will help you reach your goals. A well-thought-out plan ensures that you set and achieve your goals by providing a clear direction and prioritization of tasks.
Effective planning involves breaking down your goal into actionable steps and regularly reviewing your progress to stay aligned with your vision for your future. By planning, you can adjust your goals and strategies as needed, ensuring that you remain on the right path toward achieving your ambitions.
Q6: How to Ensure Your Goals Align with Your Values?
Ensuring your goals align with your values is key to maintaining motivation and achieving long-term success. Begin by reflecting on your life goals and vision for your future, and then set goals that reflect your core values and aspirations.
By aligning your goals with your values, you create a sense of purpose and direction in your personal and professional life. This alignment helps you stay motivated and committed to achieving your goals, even when faced with challenges. Remember, goals that reflect your values make all the difference in living the life you want to live.
Q7: How to Regularly Review and Adjust Your Goals?
Regularly reviewing and adjusting your goals is essential for staying on track and making progress toward your objectives. Set aside time to regularly review your goals and assess your progress. This practice helps you identify any obstacles and adjust your strategies to overcome them.
By regularly reviewing your goals, you can ensure they remain relevant and aligned with your values and life vision. Adjusting your goals as needed allows you to stay flexible and responsive to changes in your personal and professional life, ultimately helping you achieve your desired outcomes.
Note: This article is part of our series on effective goal setting and project planning. Check out our other posts to learn more about project management, process optimization, and self-organization.
Do you have questions about creating a rough planning or want to share your experiences? Leave a comment or discuss with us on Bluesky or LinkedIn!