Setting Goals
What is setting goals?
Setting goals is the process of establishing clear objectives or targets to work toward. In product work, this happens at multiple levels—business goals for the organization, product outcomes for product teams, and sometimes goals for customer success.
The process requires clarity about what you're optimizing for and whose success you're measuring. Are you setting goals based directly on your company's desired business outcomes? Or are you focused on helping customers achieve their outcomes, which then drives your company's success? Understanding this relationship is critical for aligning team efforts with what truly matters.
What makes setting goals effective in product work?
Effective goal setting requires more than just picking numbers to hit. Teams need to think through several dimensions:
Alignment between customer and business outcomes ensures that goals connect what customers need with what the business needs to achieve. When you help customers reach their goals, that should feed your company's desired outcomes—typically revenue growth, retention, or other business metrics.
Clarity about what you're measuring prevents teams from working toward vague objectives. A well-set goal makes it clear what success looks like and how you'll know when you've achieved it.
Connection to discovery work means goals guide which opportunities teams explore and which solutions they prioritize. Goals shouldn't just sit in a document—they should actively inform day-to-day product decisions.
Without this clarity, teams risk setting goals that sound good but don't actually connect their work to meaningful customer or business impact.
What do we know about when people set goals?
Behavioral research reveals interesting patterns about goal setting that can inform product design. People are significantly more likely to set goals during "Fresh Start" moments—milestones like New Year's, the beginning of a month, or around birthdays.
This "Fresh Start" effect happens because these moments create psychological distance from past failures and create a sense of new beginnings. Someone might be more motivated to set a fitness goal on January 1st or at the start of a new month than on a random Tuesday.
For product teams, this insight can shape features and experiences:
Timing prompts and nudges around when users are naturally more receptive to setting goals can increase engagement with goal-setting features.
Creating Fresh Start moments within your product—like celebrating milestones or creating natural reset points—can tap into this same psychological effect.
Understanding individual preferences matters because some people favor New Year's while others respond more to birthdays or other personal milestones.
Learn more:
- Shifting from Outputs to Outcomes: Why It Matters and How to Get Started
- Why You Aren’t Learning As Much As You Could From Your Experiments
Related terms:
- Outcome
- Product Outcome
- Business Goals
- Goal
Last Updated: October 25, 2025