Published in · 6 min read · Oct 25, 2023
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Goal Setting Theory is a theory explaining how goals should be defined effectively to be achieved for individuals and groups. Goal Setting Theory was created a long time back in the 1960s by Edwin Locke, retired Dean’s Professor of Motivation and Leadership at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He is also a founder of SMART goal setting, which comprises specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
If you understand and practice the five principles of Goal Setting Theory, your team’s performance will drastically improve regardless of the industry. However, this article is focused on the software industry with an Agile team.
Understanding Goal Setting Theory is important for an Agile team because it increases the possibility of achieving goals by improving the team’s engagement, commitment, and focus. If goals are not defined correctly, your team may fail to achieve them.
If your team has implemented and practiced Agile (Scrum), you may have already practiced Goal Setting Theory. However, understanding it deepens your knowledge of how Scrum actually works from different perspectives and improves your team’s performance.
In the following explanation, I use Scrum as an Agile framework since it is the most popular…
