A method includes: a first device receives a first intent expression from a second device, where the first intent expression is used to create an intent instance; and the first device sends failure information to the second device based on the first intent expression, where the failure information indicates a cause of a failure in creation of the intent instance, the first intent expression includes a plurality of attributes, the cause of the failure includes that there are attributes that conflict with each other in the first intent expression, and the attribute is a target or a constraint condition.