Glossary

Strategic objective

Also called: strategic objectives

An outcome the organization commits to achieving within a defined horizon. In the metamodel it is the first object in the chain, and it is not considered governable until quantified into at…

An outcome the organization commits to achieving within a defined horizon. In the metamodel it is the first object in the chain, and it is not considered governable until quantified into at least one target.

It is the first link, so its quality conditions everything downstream: an objective that cannot be verified produces unjustified capabilities, purposeless processes and indicators nobody uses to decide.

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Related terms

Balanced scorecard

Kaplan and Norton's framework for measuring strategy across four perspectives — financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth.

Deliberate strategy

The component of strategy that is intentionally formulated and deployed top-down through objectives, targets and initiatives.

Goal

The quantification of a strategic objective for a given period, with a threshold and an accountable owner.

Goal-Question-Metric

A disciplined procedure for deriving indicators: from each goal one derives questions that characterize its fulfilment, and from each question metrics that answer it with data.

Initiative

A time-bound effort that mobilizes resources toward one or more strategic objectives.

OKR

A strategy management framework in which objectives express qualitative intent and key results make it measurable and time-bound.

Operational effectiveness

Performing the same activities as competitors, but better. It is distinct from strategy, which means doing different things or doing them differently, and on its own it does not sustain a…

Strategy execution management

The discipline — and software category — of connecting strategic objectives to the initiatives, processes and indicators that deliver them, and tracking the delivery on live data.

Strategy map

A representation of an organization's objectives connected by explicit cause-and-effect relationships.

Total alignment

An approach requiring vision, strategy, roles, accountabilities, objectives and indicators to be connected within a single execution logic, so that each person can see how their work…

Traceability chain

The ordered relationship from strategy through capabilities, services, offerings, processes and data to the indicators that verify results.