Grading Course Name SMART Goals and Action Plan Student's Name Professor's Name [optional] University SMART Goals and Action Plan Abstract This paper outlines the smart goals I have set for my professional growth. Every goal is time bounded and aligns with the action plan where the step by step analysis is done on how I am planning to achieve these goals. Later part of the paper outlines the factors that can affect my professional career and the determined goals followed by the measures of tracking the progress of the goals. SMART Goals Become a better software developer and achieve a profile of Team Lead by the end of the year. Achieve 90% code coverage in next 6 months. Successfully complete a project of automated testing in next 1 year and get a better understanding of software building process. Describe the importance of each of the goals chosen and provide examples of how meeting those goals will impact your career. The three goals determined are SMART goals with the specific information which are time bounded and are achievable as a software engineer. The importance of these goals is described below: The first goal is specific about the milestone I had set for this year, as I want to see promoted to the post of a team lead by giving a better performance than my team members. Setting these short term milestones will keep me motivated after I continue achieving these goals. The second goal is a very hard to achieve, but if achieved it will surely help me out to establish myself as one of the best software engineers in the company and will support my growth in the organization. The management will be influenced by my performance and the goal is to achieve this benchmark performance in next 6 months before the appraisal meeting. The third goal is what will make me more skilled and more knowledgeable. With the experience of testing, I would be having the knowledge of development and testing in the work experience of 3 years only. Thus, this goal if achieved will showcase my extra-ordinary achievement, and also help me reach to the managerial post. Do a SWOT analysis for yourself that relates to your goals. Include a branding statement that applies to yourself and your goals. SWOT analysis: Strength: Fast learner. Always meet the deadlines. Planned out the career path. Weakness: Experiencing too much pressure and workload Opportunity: Gaining the knowledge of manual and automated testing Getting promoted to the team leads or project manager post in the near future Become an expatriate Threats: Fatigue if reward and recognition are not satisfactory Competition from colleagues Recession Branding statement: A determined software engineer, having managerial skills that can lead the team to the successful project completion and cultivate the profitable business relationship with the clients Write a detailed action plan including resources needed, networking, funding, etc. to meet the goals Action plan: Main Goal: To join Accenture and become a project manager in 2 years Sub goal: Prepare myself for interviews/new organization (2 months) Task: Looking for the vacancy in the SAP technology Task: Evaluate my strength and weakness. Task: Find ways to work on technology or project that can boost my growth. Task: Regressively prepare for interviews and apply for a job. Sub goal: Prepare for team lead (12 months) Task: Give the best performance among the team. Task: Showcase supervising skills, and help colleagues with their problems Task: Improve the communication skills and become a team player Sub goal: Prepare for project manager (12 months) Task: Improve managerial skills Task: Lead the team on occasions and interact with every team member Task: Discuss with the manager about the future opportunity and scope of becoming a project manager. Resourced needed: Help from the current employer, hand on over the new technology and project Funds: The goal does not require any funds, as it relies over the job performance. Networking: It's a crucial element to achieve the goal. Professional social sites will help in improving the networking. Will make contacts in the executive meetings and will subscribe to the job openings. Describe internal and external factors that may impact (positively and/or negatively) the achievement of your goals The internal factor that can impact the sub goals and long term goals are: Work relationship: If the relationship with my colleagues will be weak, management will avoid promoting me to the team lead or managerial position. Growth opportunities: If the new project is of short time span, and no more opportunities, I would have to wait for my goals. Competition: Competition is always a driving factor that can delay the goal of reaching the level higher. The external factors that may impact my goals are: Technology change: Being a software engineer, I have witnessed several technologies being outdated. If the technology I am working on is replaced by a better technology, I will have to learn new technology and my goals will be postponed. Economy: The recession has a hard impact over the IT sector, and especially for the employees looking for being an expatriate. If a recession hits, my goal of expatriate will have to wait. Describe how you will measure progress toward meeting each of the goals. To measure the progress, I have made the sub goals which are time bounded. If the sub goals are met within deadline, I can say the progress is satisfactory and if any deadline is missed, the progress is slower than expected. The quarterly and half yearly meetings with the management will also help in analyzing the performance and what more have to be done to achieve the goals. The KPIs determined during the face to face meeting or the orientation program will also help in tracking down the progress of goals. Reference Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). Internal & External Factors Affecting Employee Engagement. Retrieved from: http://work.chron.com/internal-external-factors-affecting-employee-engagement31069.html Shahin, A., & Mahbod, M. A. (2007). Prioritization of key performance indicators: An integration of analytical hierarchy process and goal setting.International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 56(3), 226-240