Outcome Validation
Outcome validation is the practice that protects intent integrity after delivery, by asking whether the change produced the outcomes it was meant to achieve rather than only whether the work was delivered.
What is outcome validation?
Validation compares the outcomes the chosen direction was meant to achieve with those delivered. It keeps delivery from standing in for value, so that producing the deliverables is not treated as proof that the intended outcomes occurred. It is also the only place where the symptoms of an unobservable decision gap surface: a change delivered faithfully to its chosen direction whose validated outcome still falls short.
Assumed Success
Assumed success is the characteristic vulnerability of the outcome stage: treating the delivery of the work as proof that the intended outcomes occurred.
Where outcomes are assumed rather than validated, the organization may never learn whether the change achieved its purpose, and intent loss remains invisible.
Not a reporting failure. The information usually exists; what is missing is the question of whether the outcomes arrived.
What it is not
Not a post-implementation review of how delivery went, and not benefits reporting against a re-baselined case. Validation tests the outcomes against the intent as it stood, not against a target revised to match what was delivered.
Where it sits
Outcome validation is not benefits realization reporting against a re-baselined case. It tests outcomes against the intent as it stood.
Primary effect: makes intent loss visible.
Related concepts
- Outcome (stage): Outcome validation is the practice of the outcome stage, protecting against assumed success.
- Assumed Success: Outcome validation is the practice of the outcome stage, protecting against assumed success.
- Realized Outcome: It establishes the realized outcome, and it is the only route by which a decision gap becomes visible after the fact.
- Decision Gap: It establishes the realized outcome, and it is the only route by which a decision gap becomes visible after the fact.
Referenced by
Cite this page
Lars. “Outcome Validation.” Intent Integrity. https://www.intent-integrity.com/outcome-validation. n.d.
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