Decision Gap

The decision gap is the distance between the best feasible outcome and the target outcome.

How is the decision gap different from the execution gap?

The decision gap arises before execution begins, through poor problem framing, poorly justified outcomes, untested assumptions, or insufficient exploration of alternatives. It cannot be observed directly, because the best feasible outcome is the outcome of choices the organization did not make. It is approached indirectly: decision quality estimates the expected decision gap at the moment of commitment, and outcome validation reveals its symptoms afterward, when a faithfully delivered change still misses what justified it. Once set, the decision gap is fixed by the reasoning behind the direction, and no amount of delivery effort closes it.

What it is not

Not an estimating error or a missed forecast, which concern whether a target was hit. The decision gap concerns whether that target was the right one to aim at.

Where it sits

Related concepts

• Intent Gap: The decision gap is one of the two components of the intent gap.
• Decision Quality: Decision quality is the practice that reduces its expected size, and outcome validation is what makes its symptoms visible.
• Outcome Validation: Decision quality is the practice that reduces its expected size, and outcome validation is what makes its symptoms visible.

Referenced by

• The Intent Loop
• Intent Gap
• Direction
• Best Feasible Outcome
• Target Outcome
• Outcome Validation
• Weak Intent or Direction
• Decision (stage)