Last time we discussed the stakeholders, today we’ll discuss the strategy.

If my strategy is good, it needs to be tangible, desirable, feasible/flexible, focused, simple, participative, rigorous, and open. Let’s talk about what those all mean. The first handful of terms can be put under the umbrella of aspects of the strategy, and the second handful can be under the umbrella of aspects of the dialogue.

Aspects of the strategy

Tangible- The strategy isn’t abstract. Everyone who is briefed on it understands what the future state looks like. In our case, we will deliver more data to our users, more often, and we will continue to ensure the quality of that data through statistical measures.

Desirable- The strategy creates a vision that people actually want, and they know what’s in it for them. In our case it could mean changes to compensation or titles, and reduced burden on cross-functional stakeholders because data will flow to users in a more streamlined way.

Feasible/Flexible- It has to be something that’s actually attainable. In our case, we have the tools, and some early success cases that prove we can handle data in a scalable way, there’s still a few missing pieces in the process but there is cross-functional work happening to make streamlining things more likely. The flexibility comes from investigating multiple options to achieve our end goal.

Focused- It has to address a real challenge. In our case, it’s how we can keep up with an ever increasing firehose of unstructured data in a scalable way.

Simple- It has to be easy to explain. In our case, I made a 4 panel comic to explain the 4 steps required for the transformation and what our end goal is, with a manufacturing metaphor. Everyone I have run it past really enjoys it and has said it makes it much more memorable and easy to understand.

Aspects of the dialogue

Participative- Key people in the process need to be involved. My entire team has been briefed on the idea of the transformation, and other key stakeholders are onboard. As conversations come up about it, we can address any questions and accept feedback to adjust points in the plan.

Rigorous- Many options should be discussed. In our case, we are looking at many different commercial and proprietary tools, the build vs buy conversation about the right approach that will get us to the ideal end state. On top of that there are other aspects to the transformation that we’re discussing that cross-functional contributors have brought up that I had not considered. These are all added to the notes for the strategy

Open- Finally, open dialogue and feedback need to be encouraged. Even in an ideal world with the perfect plan, we wouldn’t want all the dialogue and feedback to be “this is amazing!” Someone will always have a differing perspective, and that needs to be heard. In our case, even though we’re showing that we’re already on track, we haven’t considered all the angles yet, and more stakeholders still need to be consulted.

Wrapping up

Now that I understand the aspects of strategy and dialogue, I can put together a strategy briefing that clearly and simply explains what we aim to achieve, how, and why we want to. I can use this combined with the next post, to help build the appetite for the change.