Purpose · Alignment · Component
The alignment review
An annual note on what the purpose test actually changed, and what it failed to catch.
The deliverable
What it is
Alignment fails quietly. Nothing announces that a test has stopped being applied, which is why the review has to be scheduled rather than triggered.
The useful half of the review is not what the test caught but what it missed — decisions that should have gone through a gate and did not.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
What it changed
Decisions the purpose test altered or stopped during the period.
2 attributes: Count · Examples
LearnWhat it missed
Commitments that should have passed a gate and did not.
2 attributes: Commitment · How it was missed
LearnAdjustments
Changes made to the gates as a result of the review.
3 attributes: Gate · Change · Effective from
Learn
The “what it missed” column is the one worth reading. A review that only records successes has not been done.
The other components in alignment
Decision gates
The named points in existing processes where the purpose test is applied — the moments where the organisation binds itself to something.
LearnThe cascade record
The traceable line from purpose down to this quarter’s work — how the statement translates into the goals beneath it.
Learn