Section 7.5 · Stage 2 of 6 · Adaptive Brand Management: Foundations
Interpretation
The determination of whether an observation represents a change in the operating environment or variation within an unchanged one.
- Observation
- Interpretation
- Decision
- Adaptation
- Verification
- Learning
Definition
Interpretation is the determination of whether an observation represents a change in the operating environment or variation within an unchanged one.
The claim
Three axes are sufficient and necessary: isolated or repeated, temporary or structural, local or broad. A signal that has not been tested on all three has not been interpreted.
Preconditions
Enough elapsed time to distinguish temporary from structural, which means some signals cannot be interpreted at the moment they appear. Not yet is a valid output of this stage.
Known limits
Interpretation is where bias enters the cycle, and it enters through the party with the most at stake. Where the interpreter also performed the work being assessed, the pressure runs one way. Recording the interpretation before the outcome is known is a partial control, not a solution.
The sufficiency of the three axes is asserted here rather than demonstrated. Recorded in Appendix B.
This page expands one stage of the cycle set out in Section 7. The commercial practice built on the model is described separately by Digilu.