Hello dear readers!

It’s time for a new feature here at the Zan-gile Methodology! Weekly, I will pose a challenge to help spur your thoughts, strengthen your skills or open your mind to new possibilities on your Agile journey.  While I have no way of following up with most of you regarding these challenges, I welcome you to post your feedback as a comment, send me a tweet @zandterman, or even send a smoke signal or carrier pigeon!

This weeks challenge: Commit to your goals completely.

Some tips to help with this:

• Watch your language: Use firm, strong language when speaking of your goals. Say “I will” instead of “I plan to”. Don’t hedge on contingencies. Speak your goals out loud, either to your team or to yourself, using clear, simple terms.
• Have SMART goals: SMART stands for Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timed/Time Boxed. Make clear goals which you can complete, which you will be able to determine is complete, in a certain amount of time, that will provide some sort of benefit.
• Be honest and true. If you don’t complete your goal, own it. Examine why this happened. Find areas to improve. Was your goal really SMART? If you did complete your goal, was it too easy? Can you challenge yourself further next time?

Please let me know what you think of this challenge, and if you have any ideas for future weekly challenges!