Intent

In plain terms

Intent is what a change is trying to achieve and why. Establishing it means reasoning from the change need to a justified position on which outcomes should be pursued, why those outcomes are valuable, whose interests they affect, how competing outcomes should be prioritized or traded off, and what constraints must be respected. The outcomes established become the intended outcomes of the change.

How it works

Intent is established by understanding the change need, determining which outcomes should be pursued in response, why those outcomes are valuable, whose interests they affect, how competing outcomes should be prioritized or traded off, and what constraints must be respected.

The intended outcomes provide the reference point for choosing a direction and for keeping execution connected to what the change is trying to achieve. This is also why the concept is framed as intent integrity: the reasoning across the change remains organized around the established intent.

Establishing intent constrains the possibilities available in response to the change need and may rule out stronger possibilities. An intent gap exists where the strongest outcome position reasonably achievable within the established intent is weaker than what could reasonably have been achieved in response to the change need. Poorly founded reasoning increases the expected loss but does not by itself establish that an intent gap exists. Potential lost at this point cannot be recovered downstream unless the intent and the reasoning that constrained it are reconsidered.

Some intent must exist before a direction can be chosen, but intent can be reconsidered. Exploring a direction or executing it may produce new evidence or insights that change how the change need or the intended outcomes should be understood, and validation may call the intent into question. Where the outcomes to be pursued or the reasons for pursuing them change, intent is being reconsidered. Revising it does not weaken intent integrity when the reasons for doing so remain explicit and the reasoning downstream is reconnected.

Where it sits

Intent is one of three fundamental elements of deliberate organizational change, alongside direction and execution. It is established in the Intent function of the Intent Loop and is the reference point for choosing a direction and keeping execution connected to what the change is trying to achieve.

Terms defined here

Concepts that belong to this page rather than to a page of their own. Each has a stable anchor.

Related concepts

Each relationship is stated as a claim, so it can be checked against the definitions it connects.

• Intent is one of the three fundamental elements of deliberate organizational change, alongside direction and execution.
• Intent responds to a change need.
• Intent establishes the intended outcomes, which are the reference point for choosing a direction. Outcome targets express their expected levels if the chosen direction is realized.
• Establishing intent is where an intent gap may arise. Intent quality is the practice that reduces the expected intent gap.
• The Intent function places this work within the Intent Loop.
• Intent integrity is framed around intent because the reasoning across the change remains organized around the established intent.

Referenced by

• Outcome
• Change need
• Deliberate organizational change
• Intended outcomes
• Direction
• Execution
• Reasoning
• Intent Integrity
• The Change Gap Model
• Intent gap
• The Intent Loop
• Intent
• Direction
• Intent quality
• Direction quality
• Intent tracing
• Outcome validation