Purpose · Integrity · Component

The evidence audit

Recent decisions read backwards to infer the purpose they imply — the enacted purpose, as opposed to the stated one.

The deliverable

What it is

Organisations can hold a purpose sincerely and act against it consistently, without anyone lying. The audit is what makes the difference visible.

The method is deliberately mechanical: take the last twenty significant decisions and ask what purpose would explain them. Whatever emerges is the enacted purpose.

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.

  1. The decisions

    The sample of recent significant decisions.

    3 attributes: Decision · Date · Commitment

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  2. The inferred purpose

    The purpose that would best explain the decisions taken.

    2 attributes: Inferred statement · Confidence

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  3. The comparison

    Where the stated and enacted purposes agree and where they part.

    2 attributes: Divergence · Evidence

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Take the sample before deciding what you expect to find. An audit designed around a hypothesis will confirm it.