Annual Goals 1

[Mechomatic]

Hello all-

I've recently started a new job (my 2nd since getting my BSME). I moved from a company that wasn't big enough to be considered even a "small" company into a multi-national behemoth with all of its associated procedures, planning, and documentation. I appreciate the structure greatly, and am presently tasked with setting annual goals. I'll admit that every New Year's resolution I've ever made has been a poor experience in achievable, quantifiable goal setting.

As a young engineer with my EIT (<2 yrs experience) who is working toward earning my PE, what are some good examples of quantifiable annual goals? It's not like this is sales or marketing where you literally have numbers to back up your performance. The mid-year review is coming up next week, and I'll be setting my goals for the remainder of the year (started this job about 2 months back, so my "annual" goals will actually be "semi-annual").

I'd love to hear from folks who have done this before, especially those of you who did it when you were still green as the Amazon River basin. I don't really know what tasks/projects will be thrown my way in the coming months, so it's hard to say "Lead two or more $xxx,xxx+ projects" - or something along those lines.

My question, again, is what kinds of quantifiable annual goals can a fresh hire (who is only marginally removed from college graduation) working toward his PE reasonably make?

Some items that came to mind: 1) Attend a project management training seminar, 2) Complete CAD system(s) training course/certification, 3) X hours of continuing education in <industry>. Does this sound reasonable? It seems like it's still too wishy-washy and not clearly defined enough.

Thanks for your input!

 

[GregLocock]

1)...and apply the results
2)...and do the CAD on a project

To be honest my objectives are cascaded down from on high, all i can do is warp them to suit my own personal objectives.

ideally outcomes would be measurable, then you can just keep evidence of this throughout the year and grandly announce that you have achieved them all.

Be aware that unless your company is entirely unusual, this whole procedure is practically a waste of everybody's time. If you've got a work related issue sitting on it for 6 months isn't going to help. The most useful thing you do is use it to push your training needs back onto management, which was your intention anyway. You might also want to rotate into a different department, you could put that down as an objective.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[MikeHalloran]

"Pay for performance" was one of several programs adopted at considerable expense by a flailing former employer.

I forgot exactly what my goals were, but I picked four and achieved three, witnessed and acknowledged by my department chairman, in writing, etc.

What surprised me was that I got a nice check, more than a year after I had been downsized. The program was administered by the Accounting department, not the Engineering department, and they paid their bills and honored their promises.

The goals, as I remember, were selected for these qualities:
Each was something that I could do pretty much by myself, with a small amount of company money and some of my time.
Each was not dependent on anyone else doing anything.
Each was really a pretty small project.
Each had a tangible or visible result.
Each had some clear benefit to the company, however small.
Each was something I had been thinking about doing anyway, for long enough to have some sort of mental image of the end result.

I think that doing the CAD for someone else's project may become too big to achieve in the alloted time, but learning the CAD system well enough to make a useful macro or tool might be an achievable goal, especially if you're already up to speed enough to be dissatisfied with the CAD system.

Similarly, generating (or improving) tools that help you or your peers do the job might qualify as a suitable goal. I didn't get any money for it, but at another job, I managed to understand an Excel spreadsheet that did finite element stress analysis for binocular load cells, and modify it to also calculate deflection.




Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[KENAT]

Per Greg, my goals are flowed down from above these days. They used to encourage you to put in 1 or 2 personal goals but not so much any more.

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What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[TGS4]

Any goals should be SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-bound

I think that you are already getting advice on the goals being attainable (by you and not dependent on anyone else), and measurable. Specificity is important, as the more you leave to someone else's interpretation, the more likely they will interpret it in a manner that is detrimental to you.

 

[ProEpro]

Try not to tie the goals to the projects you are working on. They will change before the year is over and the goals will become meaningless.

ProEpro

http://www.whitelightdesign.com

 

[Subystud]

I think all the suggestions above are valid. I am in a similar situation as you and had some of the same questions and issues regarding quantifying results. Maybe you should consider more qualitative assessments of your progress.

Personal example: The only work environment I've known is engineer-procure-construct (EPC). I was tasked with developing metrics for the engineering group, which consisted of a manager, 6 multi-discpline engineers, and 3 designers. Meetings were almost a plague during the beginning: undisciplined, over-attended, off-topic. So, I proposed to rank meetings on an individual's qualitative responses to meeting-metrics, and meeting facilitators were then ranked by their peer's responses. Requirements for a meeting were an agenda. Maximum duration was 60 mins. We would then dedicate 60 seconds to rate the meeting, by individual, on categories such as "How on-topic was the meeting?" "How attentive to time schedule" "Previous meeting action item's acted upon?". 0-5 scale. All individual's responses captured. A simple spreadsheet grew into a rather large data set over a 6 month period. The outcome was that overall a culture was developed to be attentive and respectful of meetings, not just "meeting for the sake of meeting".

Continuous improvement seems like a hassle, and it is. But it works if the effort is dedicated. Unfortunately, management rarely supports initiatives of this sort. That's where the inter-personal influence and initiative can pay off by giving you the opportunity to develop a new system. And management loves pretty graphs, always and forever. They also like results that correlate to efficient business operation.

So, thinking qualitatively may be an alternative. Just develop a quality scale, 0-5 works well enough.

Question: what industry are you in?

 

[rotw]

Competence and technical skills:
- Develop knowledge on new products by seeking new tasks; work on the basic aspects of the dry extraction ejector vessel technology (imaginary) by the end of second semester and prepare/complete at least two basic aspects spreadsheet (BAS) with help of one Senior Engineer;
- Deliver on schedule and with commitment ; match 85% of business cycle due dates BCDD of category II (imaginary) by end of year ;
- Strengthen my reputation by deepening my technical expertise : take tasks on the advanced machining tools test program by end of third quarter (imaginary) to become a focal point of its software calibration module issues ;
- Build a better understanding of working procedure WPA : ask to have a mentorship from the WP department within second quarter.

Networking :
- Network outside company by proactively involving company Experts in SouthEastNorth Office on important technical issues ; Plan two travels to SouthEastNorth Office by second quarter. Broaden my knowledge to other engineering aspects and network;

Improvement plan :
- Improve skills on A, B & C by attending training courses (schedule the JGIW corporate training within 1st semester);

out of my imagination

 

[spongebob007]

Maybe this is a conversation you should be having with your boss when you sit down for your review.

 

[tygerdawg]

I wish you the best of luck with that. My last Boss, a dear wonderful person, had me re-write my goals 9 times in 6 months. NINE TIMES. And even though I hit every goal in that Brownian Motion moving target arcade, she still plowed me on my annual performance review. "Does not meet expectations."



TygerDawg
Blue Technik LLC
Virtuoso Robotics Engineering

http://www.bluetechnik.com