SMART was created by George T. Doran, in a 1981 issue of Management Review he wrote an article entitled There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. Letters S and M usually mean specific and measurable. A, R and T are often tweaked but will be around the objective being Achievable, Realistic or Relevant and Timebound or Timely. Learn how to set SMART goals with a FREE template!