Bad goals are indistinguishable from numbers. “Our p50 build time will be below two seconds,” or “We’ll finish eight large projects.” You’ll know a goal is just a number when you read it and aren’t sure if it’s ambitious or whether it matters. Good goals are a composition of four specific kinds of numbers: A target states where you want to reach. A baseline identifies where you are today. A trend describes the current velocity. A time frame sets bounds for the change. Put these all together, and a well-structured goal takes the form of: “In Q3, we will reduce time to render our frontpage from
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