Making Meaning Measurable: How to See Coherence in Decision Systems

If meaning changes, it leaves traces you can measure. Meaning is not directly observable—but its effects are. This paper shows how to detect shifts in interpretation before they show up in performance. It introduces Translation Coherence as a measurable property derived from governance artefacts and allocation patterns. This makes alignment empirically visible—rather than inferred after failure. About the Coherence ProgrammeThe Coherence Programme studies why institutions drift despite appearing aligned. It shows that decisions are made not on intent itself, but on how intent is translated into criteria, metrics, and allocation rules. Using the Operating Spine, the programme traces how purpose becomes action across governance layers, making drift and coherence directly observable within decision systems. The research applies to public institutions, capital allocation, and AI-mediated environments, where the durability of decision rules determines long-term institutional reliability.Programme citation: Mertens, R. E. U. (2026). The Coherence Programme: A Conceptual Overview and Entry Point to the Research Programme. Resources: Coherence Programme OSF repository and https://thecoherenceprogramme.org Version 1.0: Initial release of the methodological framework outlining pathways for making translation coherence empirically observable.Version 1.01: Terminology clarification, improved articulation of the latent-variable framing, strengthened boundary condition statements, and refinement of pathway definitions. No changes were made to the conceptual structure or methodological claims.Version 2.00: This release consolidates the manuscript within the full research programme structure. Cross-paper terminology has been harmonised, the distinction between interpretive coherence (narrative) and translation coherence (measured latent property) has been standardised, and reference architecture has been aligned. No changes have been made to the methodological framework, pathway structure, boundary conditions, or theoretical claims.Version 2.01: consolidates the manuscript within the full research programme structure. Cross-paper terminology has been harmonised, titles and references have been aligned with the programme statement, and internal cross-references have been updated. No changes have been made to the formal decision-learning architecture, measurement logic, boundary conditions, or theoretical claims. Empirical studies, measurement instruments, and field applications are in preparation and will be released in subsequent linked records.Version 2.02: Programme Consolidation Update: This version consolidates the manuscript within the unified Coherence Programme structure.Titles, terminology, and internal cross-references have been harmonised across the series to stabilise the programme’s core constructs: Translation Drift (mechanism) Translation Coherence (metric) Interpretive Maintenance (governance function) Distributed Coherence (theoretical integration) No changes have been made to the formal architecture, boundary conditions, methodological logic, or theoretical claims.The update improves cross-paper traceability, indexing consistency, and conceptual coherence across the programme.Version 2.03: Terminology harmonisation and minor structural refinements to improve consistency across the Coherence Programme. No changes to the theoretical framework, constructs, or research design.