Intent

Establish what outcomes to pursue and why.

What it is

This page describes what the Intent function does within the Intent Loop. The element itself is defined on its own page.

The element itself is defined on Intent.

In the loop

Intent is where the loop starts, and it may already be complete before anyone thinks to examine it. A change can arrive with its purpose already attached: a mandate, a brief, an ambition stated by someone with the authority to state it. The function is performed either way. The question is whether it was performed well or simply asserted.

Its work is to move from a change need to a defensible position on which outcomes to pursue and why. That means understanding the need itself, identifying which outcomes would be valuable, considering whose interests are affected, deciding how competing outcomes should be weighed against each other, and being clear about what constraints genuinely apply.

Everything downstream is judged against what this function produces. Direction is chosen in pursuit of it, execution is kept connected through it, and validation compares what happened against it.

Reasoning also comes back here. Exploring directions can reveal that the intent was too narrow, or aimed at the wrong thing. Evidence from execution or validation can show that the outcomes being pursued are not the ones worth having. Reopening intent on that basis is the loop working, not the loop failing.

Vulnerability

Weak intent. The outcomes pursued are not the strongest reasonably available, or the reasons for pursuing them do not hold up. This is the failure that sets the lowest ceiling, because everything after it inherits the limit.

It can also be hard to catch, because intent may predate the people best placed to question it, and questioning it can read as questioning whoever set it.

Intent quality is the practice that addresses it.

Weak intent. Intent quality is the practice that addresses it.

Guiding question

What outcomes should we pursue, and can we explain why they are valuable?

Related

• Intent is one of the five functions of The Intent Loop, and corresponds to intent, one of the three fundamental elements of change.
• It responds to a Change need and establishes the intended outcomes.
• It precedes the Direction function.
• Its characteristic vulnerability is weak intent, which increases the risk of an Intent gap.
• Intent quality is the practice for this function.