Module 4 · Lesson 4.1
What an operational definition is
Why the words that feel too obvious to define cause the most trouble at interfaces.
Key idea
An operational definition states what is judged, how it is measured and what decides it, so that two reasonable people reach the same answer.
Video coming soon: Alex introduces the lesson
About 5 to 6 minutes. Until it is recorded, the lesson below covers everything in it.
Clear words that aren’t
Some words feel too obvious to define. “Complete.” “Ready.” “Approved.” “On time.” Everyone uses them every day, and nobody stops to ask what they mean.
That is exactly why they cause so much trouble at interfaces. One team regards a piece of work as complete once its own part is finished. The next team expects it to be checked, recorded and usable before it counts. Both are reasonable. Both believe they agree. The gap stays hidden until the work arrives, and the receiving team sends it back.
A Harbourline example
Harbourline · Pune and Cork
At Harbourline, the Pune Service Desk marks a Northlight Financial ticket “resolved” when the user’s problem is fixed and the ticket is closed in the service desk system.
Billing and Revenue in Cork needs something more. Northlight’s contract pays service credits when tickets breach their agreed resolution times. To agree the credits each month, Billing needs to know not just that a ticket was closed, but when the user confirmed the fix, which priority it carried, and whether any time was paused while waiting on Northlight.
So when Billing asks for “resolved tickets” for the month, it receives an accurate list that it can’t use. The Service Desk believes the request is closed. Billing believes the data is wrong. Neither is careless. They are using one word with two meanings.
Try it
One word, two meanings: “resolved”
The same Northlight ticket, seen from Pune and from Cork. Switch between them.
| “Resolved” means | The user’s problem is fixed and the ticket is closed in the service desk system. |
|---|---|
| What happens when Billing asks for “resolved tickets” | The request is closed: an accurate list was sent. |
Neither team is careless. They are using one word with two meanings.
Three parts of an operational definition
An operational definition removes that ambiguity by specifying three things.
Try it
Three parts of an operational definition
Choose a part to see the question it answers and how Harbourline answered it for “resolved”.
| The question it answers | What exactly is being judged? |
|---|---|
| For “resolved” | Whether the user has confirmed the fix, and when, for a ticket of a given priority. |
With those three parts in place, “resolved” means the same thing in Pune and in Cork.
The two-people test
There is a simple test of whether a definition is good enough: could two reasonable people apply it independently and reach the same conclusion?
If an analyst in Pune and an accountant in Cork, looking at the same ticket, would both say “resolved” or both say “not yet resolved”, and agree on whether it met its target, the definition passes. If they could reasonably disagree, it isn’t finished yet.
Harbourline’s own definitions use the test directly. “Run-book ready for go-live” is tested by asking whether a Pune analyst who has never seen the service could resolve the top 10 expected calls from the run-book alone. That is a test two people would apply the same way.
Try it
Would two people reach the same answer?
Apply the two-people test to each draft. Then check.
“A release is ready when the Kraków team feels confident in it.”
“Run-book ready for go-live: a Pune analyst who has never seen the service can resolve the top 10 expected calls from the run-book alone.”
“Urgent tickets are handled promptly.”
“A ticket counts as resolved only when the user has confirmed the fix in the service desk system.”
Where to start
You don’t need a definition for every word. Start with the terms that sit at important, recurring interfaces and keep causing returns, rework or argument. Those are where the effort pays back.
A process map shows how work flows, while a definition records the agreement at a handoff; lesson 5.2 covers how the two work together.
Pause and think · your notes
Think of a word your team uses at an interface that the other side reads differently.
How Alex would answer
Start with the terms that sit at important, recurring interfaces and keep causing returns, rework or argument. Lesson 4.2 shows how to agree one with the other side.
What to take away
- Words like “complete”, “ready” and “approved” hide different meanings at interfaces.
- An operational definition names the attribute, the method and the decision criteria.
- Test it: could two reasonable people apply it independently and reach the same answer?
Your progress
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