Intent gap

In plain terms

The intent gap is the potential lost in establishing what a change should achieve. It arises when 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. Potential lost here cannot be recovered through direction or execution unless the intent and the reasoning behind it are reconsidered.

How it works

Establishing intent constrains the possibilities available in response to the change need. Intent potential cannot exceed change potential. Where the established intent rules out stronger outcome possibilities, the difference is the intent gap.

An intent gap may reflect how the change need was understood, which outcomes were considered valuable, whose interests were considered, how competing outcomes were prioritized or traded off, what constraints were applied, or the assumptions and judgments underlying those choices.

Poorly founded reasoning when establishing intent increases the expected potential loss, but does not by itself establish that an intent gap exists. Because both change potential and intent potential are counterfactual positions, the intent gap cannot be indicated through a direct comparison of observable references in the same way as the execution gap. The model supports reasoned judgments, informed by available evidence, about whether potential may have been lost when intent was established, rather than providing a direct measure of that loss.

Meeting the outcome targets does not establish that the intent was well founded. A change can meet its targets while potential was still lost in establishing the intent.

Addressing the intent gap requires stronger reasoning about what should be pursued and why. Potential lost upstream cannot be recovered downstream unless the reasoning that constrained it is reconsidered.

Intent quality is the practice that reduces the expected intent gap.

Related concepts

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

• The intent gap corresponds to intent, one of the three fundamental elements of change.
• It sits between change potential and intent potential in the Change Gap Model.
• It is one of the three gaps that together span the change gap, alongside the direction gap and the execution gap.
• It may reflect how the change need was understood, which outcomes were considered valuable, or whose interests were considered.
• Weak intent is the characteristic vulnerability of the Intent function. Intent quality is the practice that reduces the expected intent gap.

Referenced by

• Change need
• Intent
• The Change Gap Model
• Direction gap
• Execution gap
• Change gap
• Outcome references
• Intent
• Intent quality