Gulf of Execution

Last week I got an email from my mentor program student asking:

"Nidhi: What is the difference between Gulf of Evaluation and Gulf of Execution. I often get confused. Can you please help?"

This is a topic which is indeed confusing but let me make your life easier. Explaining this with my everyday examples. Happy learning 😊

Gulf of Execution

What do you mean by the word Execution? I would say taking action or doing something. Correct?

Now tell me what does gulf mean?

As per oxford dictionary gulf means gap.

So now tell what do you think gulf of execution means?

It means the gap in doing something and finding out if it is done or not.

Let's understand this using an example:

a) You switch on the fan and check whether the fan is running or not. If you can find out immediately, that means the gulf of execution is small or negligible.

Thanks to alvin matthews on Unsplash

b) On the other hand, you turn on the heater, it takes a few mins before you can find out whether it is heating or not. This means that gulf of execution in this case is higher.

Thanks to Erik Mclean on Unsplash

Isn't it simple? 😊 😊

Now let us understand what does gulf of evaluation mean?

Gulf of Evaluation

Evaluation means to assess or evaluate something – to find out what its current state is

Gulf of Evaluation means the gap in finding out what is the current state of the system

For instance:

a) You look at the fan and you can immediately tell that either the fan is on or off. Hence gulf of evaluation in this case is small

b) On the other hand, you click on a link on a website. On doing that, it shows a page stating "Loading...." This doesn't give clarity on what's happening – is the website going to load, will it not load, what is the current state of launching the website. You cannot determine how much time you have to wait before you can find out if the page is loaded or not. In this case the gulf of evaluation is high

c) Another example, you are talking to your friend. He has recently gone through a setback and you have met him right after that. He is talking to you normally. You know he must not be right but you cannot find out what exactly is his state of mind. This is a huge gulf of evaluation. You can't figure out what your friend is going through. Is he fine, is he not? Should you be worried?

Hope this clarifies and you liked the explanation. To become PMI-ACP^® Certified, you can join our Mentor Program. Just click https://www.eduhubspot.com/packages/acp

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Cheers,

Nidhi.

nidhi.kohli@eduhubspot.com