teleological-planning

Backward planning is an outcome-driven approach that starts with a desired end-state and works backward to identify necessary steps. It ensures every task directly contributes to achieving the defined business goal rather than just tracking activities.

To create an outcome-driven plan, define your desired end-state, decompose it into phases and tasks, and establish phase gates for validation. This ensures every action maps directly to an acceptance criterion and contributes to the overall goal.

Phase gates act as checkpoints to verify progress and ensure milestones are met before proceeding. They validate that task dependencies and acceptance criteria are satisfied during the outcome-driven planning process.

Use teleological planning when managing a complex project with multiple phases and dependencies. It helps create a clear, actionable plan that aligns with business objectives by mapping tasks directly to acceptance criteria.

Outcome-driven planning starts with the desired end-state and works backward to ensure every action contributes to it, whereas activity-driven planning focuses on completing tasks without guaranteeing they achieve the overall goal.

You map tasks to acceptance criteria by decomposing the desired end-state into phases and tasks, ensuring every task is directly linked to a specific criterion. This backward planning technique guarantees all actions contribute to the final goal.