{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/separate-the-end-from-the-means-used-to-reach-it",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0394",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Separate the end from the means used to reach it",
  "summary": "'Use AI' is not an objective until you say what it is supposed to improve.",
  "kind": "question",
  "body": "For each stated objective, ask why it matters. If the answer names a more fundamental outcome, the original item is probably a means objective. Keep both when useful, but evaluate alternatives primarily against the ends you actually care about. This prevents a favored method from disguising itself as success.",
  "limits": [
    "Means can still be legitimate constraints or strategic commitments; the point is to avoid confusing them with the final value they serve."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-decision-analysis-calibration"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-A14C976721E6EBD9"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "Research on incomplete objectives shows that omitted objectives can change which alternative appears most promising, and value-focused thinking explicitly works to generate a more complete objective set.",
      "source_id": "RS-A14C976721E6EBD9",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "A longer objective list is not automatically better; redundant or irrelevant objectives can also distort analysis.",
      "locator": "Value-focused thinking and incomplete objectives"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "An objective list contains items that are really methods, features or intermediate steps."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Means can still be legitimate constraints or strategic commitments; the point is to avoid confusing them with the final value they serve."
  ],
  "example": "'Move to a new platform' may be a means; 'reduce failed deployments without slowing necessary change' is closer to the end.",
  "check": "Every important means objective points to an explicit underlying outcome that could be achieved another way.",
  "question": "Why do we want this? · If we achieved it but not the underlying outcome, would we still call the decision successful? · Could the underlying outcome be reached by another means? · Which objective is fundamental enough to judge the alternatives?",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-A14C976721E6EBD9",
      "title": "Incomplete Objectives in Decision Making: How Omitting Objectives Affects Identifying the Most Promising Alternative",
      "url": "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43069-024-00371-3"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0394",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-0393",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/write-the-objectives-before-inventing-the-options"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-3EA4A5EF5790DD81",
      "title": "Model the decision before buying more certainty",
      "url": "/collections/model-the-decision-before-buying-more-certainty"
    }
  ]
}