The ITN framework is a tool used to compare cause areas based on three key factors: Importance (how much progress in the cause would improve the world), Tractability (how easy it is to make progress in that area), and Neglectedness (how few resources are already dedicated to it). This simple yet useful framework has become a common way to estimate the impactfulness of any given cause area.
Why compare causes?
When we want to make a positive impact, whether through our career, donations, or volunteer work, we’re often faced with a tough reality: we have limited time and resources, and there are countless important causes to support. Because we can’t tackle everything at once, it helps to think carefully about where our efforts can go the furthest.
Comparing different cause areas and even smaller issues within the broad cause area is a useful way to clarify that decision. By looking at causes and issues side by side, we can figure out which problems are most pressing and where there’s room for our skills or resources to make a difference. It’s not about picking one cause forever or deciding one issue is “better” than another. Instead, it’s an effort to think critically about the time, energy, and resources we do have and to use them wisely. That’s where the ITN framework comes in.
Breaking down the ITN framework
Importance
Importance is the extent to which progress in a cause area would improve the world. It asks things like: How much suffering could it reduce? How much happiness or other values could it promote? When you think about importance, it’s helpful to look at the scale of the problem and how deeply it affects those involved. For example, addressing climate change is likely to have a bigger impact on the world than painting all the fences in your neighborhood (which is still nice, but not life-changing).
Important cause areas tend to offer more opportunities to do impactful work. But just because a cause is important, it doesn’t mean that every role or project within that area is equally significant. Many organizations work on specific aspects of a bigger cause, and it’s worth considering whether the particular sub-area you’re interested in is also highly important.
Tractability
Tractability refers to how solvable a problem is. In other words, how effective are the methods we have to help in this cause area? Do we have strong evidence that what we’re doing will work? When thinking about tractability, you should look at the organizations and interventions that already exist, as well as new ideas that might still need testing. Some causes, like global health, have proven solutions that are already making a measurable difference. Others might require more research or focus on problems that are trickier to tackle.
Neglectedness
Neglectedness asks: Is this cause getting enough attention, or is it being overlooked? In general, the more people working on a cause, the more likely they’ve already tackled the easiest and most obvious solutions. So, a crowded cause area might still be important, but it could be harder to find new opportunities to make an impact.
As an example, addressing climate change is a cause area that’s very important with many tractable options for making meaningful change. On the other hand, it’s also a well-known cause area with a lot of attention. Relative to other important cause areas, climate change is less neglected—even if it still deserves more attention than most governments give it. When considering pursuing a career tackling climate change, we shouldn’t only ask ourselves how important climate change is, but also how likely we are to make a meaningful difference given existing efforts.
Generally, we recommend going for neglected causes over crowded ones. One important caveat is that, depending on your skillset, some areas can be too neglected. Areas that are virtually unknown may require research, campaigning, entrepreneurship, and other specific skills before other roles can be helpful.
Using ITN
As you consider different cause areas, you’ll see that the three factors often trade off against each other. For example, areas that are important and tractable tend to be less neglected. There’s no single ‘top’ cause area that’s right for everyone, and it’s okay to work in an area or pursue a role that isn’t ‘perfect’ along all three metrics!
This is a general framework for making imprecise observations—it won’t spit out an infallible answer. There are other methodologies out there, and many (e.g. limiting factors) can be incredibly useful in some circumstances.
In the context of career decisions, it’s also worth noting that a cause’s impact is just one consideration. It’s important to keep in mind that your skills, experience and even your excitement about specific causes can be a deciding factor for you in the cause area you’ll eventually choose.
Ultimately, using the ITN framework simply encourages us to take a deeper look into the areas we’re drawn to and to make an informed decision about what to prioritize.
Related topics
