Intermediate Objective (IO) is a situation (deliverable) in reality that either removes the obstacle to the implementation or neutralizes the ability of the obstacle to block the implementation. The implementation plan contains one or several activities (task) to achieve the desired Intermediate Objective (IO).

Example 1: Intermediate Objectives (IO) in a Prerequisite Tree (PrT)

Example 2: Intermediate Objectives (IO) in an IO Map

Source: Oded Cohen and Jelena Fedurko, Theory of Constraints Fundamentals, 2012