**A Business Alignment, Goal-setting, and Strategy Tool** An X matrix is called an X matrix because it literally draws a big "X". It separates out four categories and shows the linkage between them. 1. [[What is a Strategy|strategic]] objectives 2. Annual objectives 3. Improvement initiatives (or [[Targets to Improve|TTIs]]) 4. Measurable improvement targets ([[KPIs]]) 5. People who are associated with the improvement initiatives - can be a [[Responsibility Assignment Matrix]] ![[IMG_9702.jpeg]] The corners of the matrix effectively map: - Strategic Objectives to Annual Objectives (bottom left) - Annual Objectives to Improvement Initiatives (top left) - Improvement Initiatives to [[KPIs]] (top right-ish) - People to Initiatives and KPIs (top right-most) - ... and also KPIs to the long-term objective they support (bottom-right) # Purpose For _[[What is a Strategy|strategy]]_. Forces you to select a small number of important initiatives. Sets long-term strategy, then breaks it down into shorter term goals, which are measurable. Its purpose is NOT to : - communicate to workers what they should be doing. They shouldn't have to care about the mechanics of how the strategy works. - track progress on things, the [[KPIs]] should have their own dashboards & whatnot **** ## Source -  ## Related - [[KPIs]] - [[OKRs]] - [[Responsibility Assignment Matrix]] - [[What is a Strategy]]