The framework / 02
Concepts and connections
Clear concepts help describe a strategy and examine how its elements connect.
Plain Strategy uses concepts as models for examining situations. Sentence patterns represent these models by making their elements explicit. Models connect through elements they share, including people, actions, purposes and circumstances.
The core vocabulary
Action and direction
Action
An action is something someone does.
Someone does something in particular circumstances.
Intention
An intention is what someone means to do.
Someone means to do something.
Purpose
A purpose is what someone seeks to achieve by doing something.
Someone does, or proposes to do, something in order to achieve something.
Objective
An objective is something someone aims to achieve.
Someone aims to achieve something.
Means
A means is a way of doing something or bringing about a result.
Someone does something by doing something else, or uses something to achieve a result.
Understanding and deciding
Information
Information is what is learned or reported about a situation.
Someone learns or is told something about a situation.
Appreciation of the situation
An appreciation of the situation is an understanding of what matters in it and how this bears on what to do.
Someone understands a situation in a particular way and gives weight to features that matter for what to do.
Principle
A principle is a general consideration that guides judgement or action.
A general consideration guides how someone judges or acts.
Deliberation
Deliberation is weighing reasons for and against doing something or taking a particular course.
Someone considers whether to do something, weighing the reasons for and against it.
Plan
A plan sets out how someone proposes to proceed.
A plan sets out what someone proposes to do and how they would carry it out.
Decision
A decision settles a question about what to do.
Someone settles whether, what, how or when to act.
Carrying out and achieving
Resolve
Resolve is determination to carry an intention or decision through.
Someone is determined to carry through what they mean to do.
Execution
Execution is carrying out an action or plan.
Someone carries out an action or a proposed course in particular circumstances.
Result
A result is what comes about through an action or course of action.
An action brings about or contributes to something.
Parts of an undertaking
Stage
A stage, in the machinery of action, is a distinguishable kind of work involved in acting.
An undertaking involves a particular kind of work, which can occur at different points.
Phase
A phase is one of the successive parts of a larger activity.
One part of an undertaking follows another as the activity proceeds.
Connections
- Intention and purpose
- An intended action may serve a further purpose.
- Purpose and objective
- The same end can be an objective and the purpose of an action.
- Objectives and means
- The same objective can be pursued through different means.
- Information and appreciation
- People can have the same information yet differ in the weight they give it and the principles they bring to bear.
- Deliberation and planning
- Working out how a course could be carried out can give reasons for or against pursuing it.
- Decision and execution
- Execution can follow or depart from a decision, and can give reasons to reconsider it.
- Stages and phases
- Several stages can occur within one phase, and the same stage can recur across phases.
- Objective and result
- Achieving an objective can be one result among others, including unintended consequences.
Plain Strategy, developed by Dr Julien Maréchal. © 2026 The Governance Practice.
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