Re^2: Annual Self Appraisal forms and all this (censored)

[Solo]

What the SMART acronym stands for is very important.

I am routinely given the objective: Improve communication skills.

This is, I believe, a very common objective set by non-technical people for technical people to achieve--and it's an absolutely abysmal example of what an objective should be. Why? Because it does not satisfy the SMART conditions. Whether or not the goal is achieved is based entirely on a subjective opinion of the assigner of the goal.

Making sure objectives adhere to the SMART principle ensures the goals can be objectively measured.

[petdance]

So make your own version of it. "OK, boss, I want to improve my communication skills, too. We'd both like it to be SMART, but as stated it's not specific or measurable. I suggest that I do X (training, for example) by mm/dd/yy. How about that?"

There's a positive, useful way to look at everything.