I Intend To

Summary

Build ownership and team alignment by stating planned actions and reasons before taking them. This creates chances for feedback and support.

Context

Software teams need to move quickly while staying coordinated. Team members often act without telling others first. This leads to surprises, conflicts, or missed chances to work together.

Problem

Working silently creates misalignment and reduces learning chances. It can lead to duplicate or conflicting work. Teams struggle to balance individual action with team awareness.

Solution

Use “I intend to…” as a way to communicate. Team members state their planned actions, purpose, and expected results before starting. This promotes transparency and accountability. It also creates space for coaching or course changes.

Forces

• Individual Work vs. Team Coordination - People want to work alone but need alignment
• Speed vs. Consultation - Stopping to communicate may slow action but prevents later conflicts
• Ownership vs. Micromanagement - Clear intent builds trust rather than requiring approval
• Early vs. Late Communication - Preventing problems by communicating early

Implementation

1. State Intent Before Acting: Communicate planned actions and rationale out loud or in writing
2. Include Reasoning: Explain why this action makes sense now
3. Invite Feedback: Encourage questions, concerns, or suggestions after stating intent
4. Confirm Understanding: Check that others heard and understood the plan
5. Adjust if Needed: Use feedback to refine or pause action as necessary
6. Pair with Thinking Out Loud: Share both reasoning and planning for maximum clarity

Phrase Variations and Context

Technical Decision Making

• Investigation: “I intend to investigate the slow search service because user complaints increased 40% this week.”
• Implementation: “I intend to implement the caching layer we discussed yesterday, starting with the user profile endpoints.”
• Experimentation: “I intend to run a spike on the new testing framework to see if it reduces our build times.”

Process and Workflow

• Meeting Organization: “I intend to schedule a retrospective for Thursday afternoon since we’ve had several coordination issues this sprint.”
• Documentation: “I intend to update the onboarding guide with the new deployment process we established last week.”
• Workflow Change: “I intend to adjust our code review process to include security checklist items after yesterday’s incident.”

Cross-Team Coordination

• Dependency Management: “I intend to coordinate with the platform team about the API changes needed for our Q3 features.”
• Information Sharing: “I intend to present what our team learned from the microservices migration at next week’s engineering meeting.”
• Resource Allocation: “I intend to request additional AWS credits for our performance testing environment.”

Strategic and Learning

• Skill Development: “I intend to spend Friday morning learning about the new monitoring tools so I can help with the rollout.”
• Research: “I intend to research alternatives to our current CI/CD pipeline because slow build times hurt productivity.”
• Strategic Planning: “I intend to draft a proposal for splitting our monolithic service based on the domain boundaries we identified.”

Response Frameworks

Supportive Responses

• Acknowledgment: “That makes sense given what we discussed yesterday.”
• Offer Help: “I can help with the database migration part since I’ve done that before.”
• Resource Sharing: “I have some research on that topic I can share with you.”
• Timeline Coordination: “Good timing - that aligns with when we’ll need those API changes.”

Questioning Responses

• Context Seeking: “Help me understand the urgency - is this blocking something else?”
• Alternative Exploration: “Have you considered approaching this differently by…?”
• Dependency Awareness: “Are you aware that the security team is also working on authentication changes?”
• Resource Consideration: “Do you have the bandwidth for this given your current sprint commitments?”

Collaborative Responses

• Joint Planning: “Let’s work on this together - I can take the frontend while you handle the backend.”
• Expertise Sharing: “I’ve worked on similar integrations before - want to pair on this?”
• Coordination Offer: “I can coordinate with the other teams affected by this change.”
• Review Offer: “I’d be happy to review your approach before you start implementation.”

Concern-Raising Responses

• Risk Identification: “I’m concerned this might conflict with the compliance requirements we discussed.”
• Timing Issues: “I worry this might be too close to the release deadline for comfort.”
• Resource Conflicts: “This overlaps with what Sarah is working on - have you two connected?”
• Scope Concerns: “This feels like it might be bigger than a one-person task.”

Escalation Protocols

When Intent Meets Resistance

Step 1: Understand the Concern

• Listen actively to the feedback without defending
• Ask clarifying questions about specific concerns
• Acknowledge the validity of different perspectives

Step 2: Collaborative Problem-Solving

• Explore alternatives that address the concerns
• Adjust timeline, scope, or approach based on feedback
• Identify additional resources or coordination needed

Step 3: Decision Point

• If consensus emerges, proceed with modified plan
• If disagreement persists, escalate to team lead or appropriate decision-maker
• Document the decision and reasoning for future reference

When Intent Receives No Response

Immediate Actions:

• Assume good faith - people might be busy or distracted
• Try a different communication channel or timing
• Directly ask specific people for their input if needed

If Silence Continues:

• Proceed with stated intent after reasonable waiting period (typically 24-48 hours)
• Document that intent was stated and when
• Be prepared to adjust course if concerns emerge later

When Intent Creates Conflict

De-escalation Approach:

• Acknowledge the disagreement without taking sides
• Focus on shared goals and values
• Seek to understand underlying concerns and motivations
• Propose time-boxed discussion to resolve differences

Resolution Strategies:

• Bring in neutral facilitator if needed
• Use data and evidence to inform decisions
• Consider splitting the difference or trying both approaches
• Document the resolution process for future learning

Advanced Patterns

Compound Intent Statements

Sequenced Actions: “I intend to first investigate the API performance issue, then create a proposal for optimization, and finally implement the solution if we agree on the approach.”

Conditional Intent: “I intend to proceed with the database migration this weekend, assuming the backup verification tests pass on Friday.”

Collaborative Intent: “I intend to work with the design team to create mockups for the new feature, with the goal of having something to review by next Wednesday.”

Intent in Different Contexts

High-Stakes Decisions:

• Include more stakeholders in the intent statement
• Allow longer response time for feedback
• Document the decision-making process more thoroughly
• Consider formal review processes

Routine Actions:

• Streamline the intent statement for efficiency
• Focus on coordination rather than permission
• Use asynchronous communication channels
• Batch similar intentions together

Experimental Work:

• Emphasize learning goals over specific outcomes
• Include failure criteria and learning checkpoints
• Plan for sharing results regardless of outcome
• Time-box the investigation or experiment

Team-Level Intent Practices

Sprint Planning: Teams can use “We intend to…” statements for sprint commitments, making team-level intentions visible to stakeholders.

Retrospective Actions: “We intend to try pair programming for complex features this sprint to improve code quality and knowledge sharing.”

Cross-Team Coordination: “Our team intends to deprecate the old API by end of quarter, giving other teams time to migrate.”

Measuring Success

Individual Level

• Better Coordination: Less rework due to misalignment
• Better Feedback: More helpful input received before starting work
• More Learning: Skills grow through planning together
• More Confidence: Greater certainty about work direction and priorities

Team Level

• More Transparency: Better visibility into team member priorities and plans
• More Collaboration: More frequent and effective peer consultation
• Better Alignment: Better coordination between individual and team goals
• More Trust: Greater confidence in team member decisions

Organizational Level

• Less Coordination Overhead: Reduced need for status meetings and check-ins
• More Innovation: More experimentation due to transparent communication
• More Knowledge Sharing: Ideas and approaches spread more between teams
• Better Adaptability: Faster response to changing priorities and requirements

Implementation Tips

Getting Started

1. Personal Practice: Begin using intent statements in low-stakes situations
2. Team Introduction: Explain the pattern and its benefits during team meetings
3. Modeling Behavior: Team leads should demonstrate consistent use
4. Gentle Reminders: Encourage use without making it mandatory initially

Building the Habit

• Environmental Cues: Add intent-sharing to existing routines like standups
• Tool Integration: Include intent statements in team chat or project management tools
• Positive Reinforcement: Acknowledge when intent statements lead to better outcomes
• Continuous Improvement: Regular retrospectives on communication effectiveness

Common Pitfalls

• Over-Consultation: Avoid seeking permission for every small decision
• Under-Communication: Don’t skip intent statements for significant actions
• Defensive Responses: Welcome feedback rather than defending initial plans
• Inconsistent Practice: Maintain the pattern even when under pressure

Examples in Action

Development Work:

• “I intend to start working on the authentication service next, because I think we need to unblock the frontend team. Does anyone foresee any issues?”
• “I intend to refactor the payment processing module this afternoon since we’ve had three bugs there this week. Should I coordinate with anyone?”

Architecture Decisions:

• “I intend to create an ADR for the database migration approach, since this affects multiple teams. I’ll share the draft by end of day.”
• “I intend to test the GraphQL integration this week to check our assumptions about client performance.”

Team Coordination:

• “I intend to schedule a design review for the new feature next Tuesday, including the mobile team since they’ll need to implement the client side.”

Problem Resolution:

• “I intend to investigate the memory leak we’ve been seeing in production, starting with the most recent code changes.”

Process Improvement:

• “I intend to propose a change to our deployment process based on the issues we had last week.”

Related Patterns

• Thinking Out Loud - Complementary practice for sharing reasoning process
• Architecture Decision Records - Document decisions that emerge from stated intentions
• Transparent Artifacts - Make intentions visible through shared tools
• Psychological Safety Practices - Creates environment where stating intentions is safe

Sources

• Intent-based leadership practices
• Agile communication patterns
• Organizational psychology research on proactive communication