STR.Preface:3 - Forces - What the comparison must hold together

Several tensions shape strategic work. Current obligations compete with development; flexibility has carrying costs; multiple feasible futures can favour different choices; and affected people may bear consequences that the decision holder does not experience. Evidence can arrive too late to help. Advice can be useful without granting authority.

Keep these differences visible. One numerical score cannot by itself settle conflicting values, an unmet protected condition or an unavailable permission. A local improvement can also consume the very shared resource that makes the whole strategy feasible.