The Coherence Advantage: Why Good Organizations Drift — and How It Can Be Studied

TL;DR

Proposes the 'Operating Spine,' a minimal causal architecture that structurally analyzes the drift phenomenon where intent and outcomes diverge even when organizations appear aligned.

Problem

Organizations face a contradiction: they must act in real time while learning under delayed feedback. Existing approaches could only observe drift retrospectively and failed to systematically identify where alignment breaks.

Approach

Defines a minimal causal structure called the 'Operating Spine' that tracks where intent is translated into decision criteria and where those criteria decouple from outcomes. This structure makes alignment across governance layers directly observable.

Results & Contribution

Redefines drift as a structural phenomenon within the decision system rather than an outcome, providing a theoretical framework to evaluate the durability of decision rules in public institutions, capital allocation, and AI-mediated environments.