Vision Statement · Progress · Component
The markers
Intermediate measures that would move if the organisation were genuinely closer — designed so that they could plausibly fail to move.
The deliverable
What it is
A ten-year vision produces no natural feedback. The markers are what convert it into something that can be assessed within a planning cycle.
The design test is whether the marker could plausibly fail to move. A measure that rises with effort regardless of direction is measuring activity, which is the failure mode of every progress dashboard.
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.
The measures
What is measured, and what it indicates.
3 attributes: Marker · Indicates · Current reading
LearnThe failure test
Whether the marker could plausibly fail to move.
3 attributes: Could fail · What would make it fall · Kept
LearnThe trajectory
Where the marker needs to be by when.
3 attributes: Required at horizon · Required now · On track
Learn
Ask what would make the number fall. If nothing would, it is measuring effort rather than distance.
The other components in progress
The review
The annual reading, including the verdict that nothing moved — because a review that can only report progress is a report.
LearnThe revision trigger
What would make revising the vision the right answer, agreed in advance — so that a later revision is a decision rather than an embarrassment.
Learn