Gap Analysis

Origin. Strategic-planning practice; the SERVQUAL gaps model in services.

Mechanism. Specifies current state and target state on the same measured dimensions, and treats the difference as the problem definition. Its value is in forcing both states to be stated in commensurable terms, which usually reveals that the target state has never been specified at all.

Procedure. Define target-state dimensions with measures. Measure current state on the same dimensions. Enumerate the gaps. For each, identify the cause of the gap before proposing to close it.

Applies to. Capability planning, compliance, capability maturity.

Limitations. Produces a list of differences, none of them causal. Closing a gap that is a symptom consumes the budget for closing the one that produces it.