Ross Rondeau

Why I Built This: Start With What You Wrote

Most people who ask me to review a plan are not sure what they have written. A sentence that looks like an objective turns out to be a SMART goal. A number someone calls a KPI turns out to track activity. A vision turns out to describe the business as it is today. The Strategy Gap Finder has three checks, one for each of those jobs, and this page decides which one your statement needs.

How It Works

Type one statement. The page reads it and names the path it fits, with the reason in plain words, such as "a number and a deadline, with no stated outcome." When two paths are close, it does not guess. It asks one question, such as whether this is a goal you are committing to or a number you already track, and routes on your answer.

The three paths are:

1. SMART goals: a goal with a number and a date. The page checks the five letters and warns when a dated goal is really an objective in disguise.
2. Mission and vision: why you exist and where you are going. The page checks a mission, a vision, or a professional objective against the definition it claims to meet.
3. Strategy down to measure: a strategy, objective, key result, or number you track. The page shows which piece of the chain is missing.

Nothing moves on its own. Pick the suggested card, or any other, and that page opens with your statement filled in and its answers marked as suggestions for you to confirm.

How Good the Reading Is

The reading looks at words, not meaning, so it will sometimes point to the wrong path. That is why every card stays clickable and every answer on the next page is yours to confirm. The definitions behind each path, and their sources, are on the path pages themselves and in On Measures, Metrics, KPIs, and OKRs, On Strategy, and Professional Objectives: Do you have a Mission? What about a Vision?.