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Mission, Goals & Objectives

Yale Braunstein

School of Information UC Berkeley

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MGO

Mission, Goals, Objectives form a hierarchy

Terminology is NOT used consistently elsewhere, but we shall be VERY precise in our definitions and usage

Your role: To identify existing MGO for your system But, they do not always exist Or they may not be explicit Or there may be a mismatch with reality

Importance of MGO varies across organizations, even with types (examples: universities, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, IT departments)

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Mission statement (1) Short statement of the overall purpose of

the system, what it is and does.

Can focus on services or outputs, and on clients

Samples: Reserve system at library: provide users

with materials that would often would be otherwise unavailable.

Bookfinder.com: “provide fellow readers unbiased real-time information about books available online”

(Anirvan calls this their “goal”—as I mentioned, usage is not consistent)

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Mission statement (2)

Possibly more common in nonprofit sector than in for-profit sector But, compare Coke & Pepsi (see links

from course download page)

Often written using infinitives "To boldly go …" [Or… "to vigilantly fight the use of split

infinitives"]

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Goals

Specific statement(s) of what the system intends to accomplish

As a group, the goals encompass all the major functions of a system

Examples:My HMO’s primary goals are (in order?):

–To save my employer money–To aggravate both me and the healthcare providers who serve me–To improve the delivery of health care to me

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Objectives - 1

Subsidiary to goalsCan ALWAYS be measuredSpecify date by which it will

be accomplished

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Objectives – 2A Examples from national policy (there are

only a very few in U.S. history): “First, I believe that this nation should

commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” – J.F.Kennedy, 25 May 1961

“U.S. troops out of Bosnia within a year” – Bill Clinton, 7 Dec. 1995. (See five-year timeline at: http://www.pstripes.com/dec00/ed122000n.html )

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Objectives – 2B Additional examples from national policy:

“We will cure cancer by the end of this decade” – Sam Seaborn, rejected draft for President Bartlet’s 2002 Sate of the Union address (TWW episode #55)

“100 Mbps broadband to 50% of US households and small businesses by end of 2004” – TechNet policy statement, 15 Jan. 2002 –Focus changed to 100 million homes by

2010 “Full, free, and fair elections throughout Iraq in

January 2005” (Secretary of State Colin Powell, September 26, 2004)

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The Model for Well-Stated Objectives

Well-stated objectives should have four points:

1. To (action/verb)

2. (single measurable result)

3. by (target date/time span)

4. at (cost in time or energy)Examples:To submit a high-quality final project by May 13 without completely burning outTo complete my income tax return by April 15 while spending less than 10 hours preparation time

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Additional items related to MGO

Refining objectives Can ALWAYS be measured Specify date by which it will be

accomplished–Therefore a problem can arise when deadlines depend on each other.Example: Release Version 2.0 after completing beta testing AND complete beta tests prior to release of Version 2.0

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Output measures There is an obvious link between objectives and

output measures—we should measure the “correct” things to determine whether the objectives have been met

Output measures can be: Objective or subjective (but NOT arbitrary) Quantitative or non-quantitative Discrete (yes/no, etc.) or scalar (#, rank) Related to quantity or quality

– Surrogates for quality may be used– (The TOGO’s example)

Possible digression on educational testing goes here

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General propositions on output measures

1. Some measures are better than none

2. Use measures from outside sources

3. Use measures that are timely

4. Develop different measures for different purposes

5. Focus on the important measures

6. Don’t report more information than will be used

7. Tie output measures to expense measures

8. Use appropriate surrogates (Don’t give more credence to surrogates than they are due)

9. (Don’t confuse inputs with outputs)