A project mission details the intent behind its existence. It is a crisp, plain-talk statement that underscores every order, plan or goal and describes a desired end-state.
It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day trials and tribulations of work, but how can we be sure that what we're working on aligns with the purpose of the project? A mission statement is a guiding star or a lighthouse on the horizon that gives us perspective and allows us to judge whether our work pushes the project in the right direction. It manages to align the behaviour of team members at all levels without requiring play-by-play instructions from leaders. Put differently, in committing to a goal, a person chooses to divert attention to goal-relevant activities and away from goal-irrelevant ones. This allows for self-organization to take over, because teams are smart enough to figure out for themselves how to arrive where they are needed - all we need to do is make clear where that is. This is also helpful to clarify priority amongst the plethora of tasks in front of teams. Finally, having specific goals improves performance.
A clear mission statement lets other individuals and organizations have a snapshot view of whom your group is and what it wants to do. When it is easily visible, people can learn about your project without having to work hard for the information. Then, those with common interests can take the time necessary to learn more. This can be very helpful when you are recruiting other people and organizations to join in your effort. When people love what you're doing and can express their own values by working with you, they're much more likely to join your cause.
By rallying a team and project around a purpose we encourage excellence in our team and provide staying power within it. Purpose becomes the reason for involvement - not money or glory, which do not have the same staying power as purpose. Goal-setting instills purpose, challenge and meaning into one's work.
This can be as light or as heavy as a team wishes. It could be as light as a one or two sentence mission statement, or as heavy as a mission statement supported by time-bound objectives that each define a few key results regularly reviewed by the team as part of their process.
For a smaller project composed of a single software repository, you can
document this in the project's README.md
, possibly as part
as a dedicated "Mission" or "Why?" or "Purpose" section.
For a large project composed of several software repositories, you may wish to dedicate a section of your project website to document this.
- Fedora, RedHat's open source linux operating system, has a high level mission statement additionally complemented by a list of 12-18 month objectives that are time-bound to specific releases.
- Ubuntu has a mission statement.
- GitLab's Strategy webpage is a wonderful example.
- Apache CouchDB has an entire "Why?" section in their documentation.
- Apache HTTP Server's intro blurb provides a concise, one-sentence mission: "The goal of this project is to provide a secure, efficient and extensible server that provides HTTP services observing the current HTTP standards."
- The Motivational Benefits of Goal Setting, Latham, G.P. 2004. The Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005), Vol. 18, No. 4, Decision-Making and Firm Success (Nov., 2004), pp. 126-129
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