- EXECUTION RELIABILITY -
Every strategic decision assumes successful execution.
What evidence supports that assumption?
Confidence in execution depends on how the execution system works as a whole, under current and changing conditions.
What evidence supports confidence that the commitment can be executed? ↓
THE MISSING
DECISION SIGNAL
Due diligence, readiness reviews and other assurance practices already examine aspects of execution.
MISSING SIGNAL
Strategy
Can we trust the strategy?
Financials
Can we trust the business case?
LEADERSHIP
Can we trust this leadership team to deliver?
Technology
Can we trust the technology?
Execution
Can this system execute?
The gap is how the execution system works as a whole.
What evidence supports confidence that this execution system can execute the commitment?
These practices do not necessarily provide an integrated, forward-looking assessment of the entire execution system.
The question is whether it can execute a consequential commitment under current and changing conditions.
The discipline examining this evidence: EXECUTION RELIABILITY.
EXECUTION RELIABILITY
noun/ ex-e-cu-tion re-li-a-bili-ity /
A forward-looking decision discipline that assesses the evidence supporting an execution system’s ability to execute a consequential commitment under current and changing conditions.
APPLIES TO
- AI
Strategy - Digital
Transformation - Climate
Transition - Mergers &
Acquisitions - Operating Model
Re-design - Major Capital
Projects
It examines evidence before commitment and as execution progresses,
complementing existing decision and assurance practices.
WHAT EVIDENCE DOES IT LOOK FOR?
It examines evidence of how the execution system...
Executes incrementally
and demonstrates
progress.
Learns and responds
to problems and
setbacks.
Coordinates across
teams and
organisations.
Makes decisions and
resolves competing
priorities.
Adapts as
conditions
change.
The execution system
The unit of analysis is the execution system: the people, teams, partners, decision-making and prioritisation processes, incentives, information and resources that must work together to turn a commitment into results. Its boundaries depend on the initiative and may extend across several organisations.
Execution Reliability examines evidence of how these elements work together, before a major commitment and as execution progresses. It complements existing due diligence, assurance and readiness assessments.
Findings make evidence, assumptions and uncertainties explicit enough to inform whether to proceed, make approval conditional, strengthen the system, test critical assumptions further or reconsider the commitment. They may identify concerns without necessarily diagnosing their underlying causes. Reliability does not mean certainty of success.
Execution Reliability is an emerging discipline that needs to be tested against real decisions. Navigability™ is one proposed evidence-based assessment approach under development within this broader discipline.
Help develop Execution Reliability
I welcome collaboration with organisations, practitioners and researchers to develop and test Execution Reliability as an emerging discipline. Through discussion and real-world testing, we can examine which evidence genuinely supports confidence in execution.
DISCUSS EXECUTION RELIABILITY