AGO
Updated 2026-08-08
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
AGO is a thinking tool, associated with Edward de Bono's work on deliberate thinking, that separates three levels of intent. Aims are the broad direction or value being pursued; goals are the specific endpoints that mark arrival; objectives are the concrete intentions behind a particular action. Failures often come from confusing the levels, such as treating a goal as the aim and drifting from the original purpose, or setting objectives that do not serve either. Writing all three down and checking them against one another is the whole exercise.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Write the aim: state the broad direction or value the work genuinely serves. - Break out the goal: name the concrete endpoint that would mark success. - Test the objective: check that each action intention actually serves the aim above it.
Anchor fast decisions
Aims, goals and objectives sit at different levels of abstraction, and each answers a different question: why, what and how. When the levels are collapsed, a goal starts to masquerade as the aim, so effort flows into completing the task while the original purpose goes unexamined. Objectives that do not ladder up to an aim produce activity without direction, and aims without objectives never become concrete. Checking all three against one another keeps means and ends connected.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoverified
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