Glossary

Well-formed objective

An objective that satisfies all well-formedness rules across its nine components: purpose, stakeholders, outcomes, criteria, thresholds, constraints, risks, capabilities and evidence.

An objective that satisfies all well-formedness rules across its nine components: purpose, stakeholders, outcomes, criteria, thresholds, constraints, risks, capabilities and evidence. A process whose objective is not well formed should not proceed to trajectory design.

The well-formedness rules act as a filter before design begins. Applying them usually reveals that what was taken for an objective was a wish with no identified stakeholder, no evaluable criterion or no possible evidence.

Related terms

AND/OR decomposition

A technique for breaking down complex objectives. In an AND decomposition the parent is satisfied only if all sub-objectives are; in an OR decomposition the sub-objectives are design…

Design constraint

A non-negotiable design condition, typed as time, cost, compliance, quality, risk or experience.

Process objective

The specification of the outcome a process must produce, not a declarative sentence on a form.

Satisfaction criterion

An evaluable predicate that makes an expected outcome verifiable. It answers what must be true at completion, what must not occur, and which data prove fulfilment; without criteria, the…

Threshold

The quantification of the tolerance allowed for a satisfaction criterion, with a target, a band and a direction (maximize, minimize or stay within range).