As we look at the literature from the 1970s and the present, it seems we have come full circle with regard to our understanding of objectives, competencies and outcomes. Our guidelines for writing them have become very complex. During the past few decades, health professions educators often have lost sight of the original intent and focused on the process of developing and writing objectives and competency statements. The process is now so complex that it is almost impossible to write a simple, understandable objective or competency statement. Perhaps that is why the "outcome" term was born. Outcome statements are really fairly broad competency statements. If we focus on the real purpose of objectives and make them simple, they become easier to evaluate. In the next article, we will explore methods for evaluating competence in the clinical setting.