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About this tool
Score a goal against all five SMART criteria, track milestones, and check whether the pace you are holding will hit the target by the deadline.
The SMART Goal Planner scores a goal out of 100 against the five criteria George T. Doran published in Management Review in November 1981 — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound — at 20 points each, then works out whether the pace you have actually held will land it by the deadline. Progress is measured as (current − baseline) ÷ (target − baseline), and the required pace as the remaining amount divided by the days left. It is for anyone converting a vague intention into a plan with a number and a date on it.
Open SMART Goal Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Write the 'Goal statement' and 'Why it matters (the objective it serves)', then name the 'Metric being counted' — the page opens on paying customers going from 120 to 300.
Fill 'Baseline at start', 'Target', 'Current value' and 'Proven rate per day', set the 'Start date', 'Due date' and 'Reading taken on', and use 'Add milestone' for each checkpoint.
Read the SMART score out of 100 with its status line, then 'Pace needed', 'Pace held so far', 'Projected at deadline' and 'Lands on, at this pace', plus the SMART breakdown scoring each criterion out of 20; 'Copy plan' saves it.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound each carry 20 points, with a note on what is missing.
Required rate per day, the rate you have actually held, and the value you will reach at the deadline.
A goal needing more than 2x your proven rate is flagged as needing new resources, not more effort.
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. The acronym comes from George T. Doran's 1981 Management Review article, where the original words were Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related; the modern wording is the one in common use. This planner awards 20 points per criterion for a total of 100.
Compare percent complete with percent of the time used. If progress leads time by 10 points or more you are ahead of schedule; within 5 points either way is on track; 5 to 20 points behind is slipping; more than 20 points behind is at risk. A goal at 37% complete with 49% of the window gone is slipping by about 13 points.
The pace it demands compared with the pace you have already sustained. The planner divides the remaining amount by the days left and compares that with your proven rate per day. At or under 1x is comfortable, up to 2x is a genuine stretch, and above 2x means the target, the deadline or the resourcing has to change.
Up to 365 days. Beyond a year a deadline stops changing what you do this week, so the planner halves the Time-bound score for any window longer than that and suggests splitting it into shorter goals with their own targets.