Project Management
From decision to impact
Many organisations document what was decided. Few track what actually came of it.
A decision is the start of a chain, not its end: decision, measure, implementation, impact, insight, learning. In practice, this chain is rarely complete.
The chain that is rarely complete
The first three links usually work well: a decision is made, a measure derived from it, implementation follows. Organisations are practised at this – project plans, milestones and status reports exist in abundance for it.
The last three links get thinner. Impact, insight and learning require someone to look again after implementation – not whether the measure was carried out, but whether it changed anything.
Output is not outcome
A completed workshop is an output. Whether collaboration or decision-making behaviour actually changed afterwards is the outcome. An introduced system is an output. Whether it is actually used and makes a difference is the outcome.
Many reports stop at output, because it is easier to prove. A checkmark next to "implemented" is quick to set. An honest answer to "did it work" takes time, distance, and sometimes the courage to accept an uncomfortable answer.
Where the connection breaks
In most organisations, nobody is explicitly responsible for looking back after implementation. The project is officially closed, the team already on the next initiative. The question of impact then has no place left in the calendar – and no place left in the record.
Learning requires the connection
Without linking impact back to the decision, an organisation cannot really learn. It repeats patterns instead of correcting them – because nobody remembers anymore which earlier decision led to which result.
That is exactly why decision and impact should be kept linked from the start, instead of being pieced together afterwards.
A decision is not finished when the measure is completed. It is finished when its impact is known.