Specific

Bar chart titled 'Goals by number of missing dimensions' showing how many of the 5 SMART dimensions each goal is missing: 443 goals missing 0, 422 missing 1, 85 missing 2, 41 missing 3, 9 missing 4, 0 missing 5. 44.3% have all 5; 42.2% missing just 1; 13.5% missing 2 or more.
Of 1,000 goals, 443 met all five SMART dimensions and 422 missed only one. Most of the rest were within striking distance.

I reviewed a randomized sample of 1,000 therapy goals on Ambiki and came away more encouraged than concerned.

SMART goals have 5 dimensions:

  • Specific.
  • Measurable.
  • Achievable.
  • Relevant.
  • Time-bound.

SMART is not the be-all, end-all. Therapy goals are more nuanced than a five-letter acronym. But it is still a useful guide.

44.3% met all five criteria.

The other 55.7% were missing at least one dimension, but most were very close. In fact, 42.2% of all goals were missing only one criterion: Time-bound.

And since Ambiki captures the target end date for a goal in a separate structured field, I'm inclined to give many of those a pass. The time constraint exists. It just may not always live inside the written goal itself.

Bar chart titled 'Missing by SMART dimension' showing % of 1,000 goals missing each dimension: Specific 11.2%, Measurable 5.9%, Achievable 7.3%, Relevant 0.4%, Time-bound 50.3%. Counts: Time-bound 503, Specific 112, Achievable 73, Measurable 59, Relevant 4.
Time-bound dominates the missing column at 50.3%. Set that one aside, and Specific is the next-biggest gap at 11.2%.

The bigger signal for me was specificity.

Roughly 1 in 10 goals in the sample were not specific enough.

My takeaway from this sample: Most goals are close.

The biggest opportunity is not asking therapists to rethink everything. It is gently nudging them to double-check one thing:

"Is this specific enough that someone else would know exactly what progress should look like?"