Tip on synthesizing planned work into PI objectives:
Find the ‘Deep meaning’ (the intent). Try this: stand back and look at, holistically, the planned work.
Can you form a few meaningful chunks? Aggregate similarly themed work.
Find out the main reason why this work is important to the business. You are doing this work… to what end? Express your thoughts in business terms if the objective directly delivers something of value to the business. This is a Business Objective.
If it indirectly delivers value then it could be a Technical Objective… meaning, it supports the delivery of value — albeit it indirectly— to the business.
Once you’ve found the ‘Deep meaning’ (the intent) — which should be expressed in just a few words — it is time to make the Objective a SMART one.
To be continued…
