Infrastructure · Data Structures
Goal
Specification of desired end state
Definition
Mechanism
A specification of a desired end state. It defines the target that Work aims to achieve and that evaluation measures against. A Goal is testable: given a Result, one can determine if the Goal is satisfied. Goals can be composed (AND/OR) and prioritized.
Invariants
- Testability: Given a Result, Goal satisfaction must be decidable.
- Explicit revision: a Goal may change only by explicit re-declaration, never silently. An execution whose Goal differs from the one it began under, with no re-declaration recorded, has no decidable satisfaction condition.
Risks
Failure modes
Goal Ambiguity
Goal admits multiple incompatible interpretations.
Goal Conflict
Multiple goals cannot all be satisfied simultaneously.
Moving Target
Goal changes during execution without proper signaling.
Relationships
Builds on
Used by
References
Mind
Autonomous Goal-Directed Entity
Society
Agree on actions that serve several groups' different purposes without merging the purposes
An ordered sequence of steps to achieve a goal
Mind
Guard against activities that continue after their link to their purpose has weakened
Mind
Self-critique and retry after failure
Mind
Strategic plan over time
Rigorous requirement definition
Reference
Data schema
{
"type": "object",
"required": [
"goal_statement",
"success_criteria"
],
"properties": {
"goal_statement": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The desired end state"
},
"success_criteria": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Binary conditions that define completion"
},
"priority": {
"type": "integer",
"minimum": 0,
"maximum": 100
},
"metric_target": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"metric_name": {
"type": "string"
},
"target_value": {
"type": "number"
},
"comparator": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
">",
"<",
">=",
"<=",
"="
]
}
}
}
}
}