A lot of modern knowledge work is coordinating activities and people. Make a plan. Send that for feedback. Set the meeting for next Tuesday to review. Follow said plan. And so on.

But its easy to miss the most critical thing – what is the actual goal here and did we make progress against it?

I see teams slip into the rhythms of "doing things" and equate it with making progress. These are not the same. Often they are the opposite.

Activity will always take the place of a goal.

Set the objective. Revisit it. Not just tomorrow or at the end, but every day.