Strategy and Planning


Nancy Truitt Pierce
TELA Spring 2009
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
1
Objectives



Discuss Strategic Thinking
Review the steps of Strategic Planning
Develop some answers to the questions
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
2
Strategic Thinking



Everyone wants it
What is it?
How do you do it?
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
3
Strategic Thinking
From Wikipedia:
to seek innovation and imagine new and
very different futures that may lead the
company to redefine its core strategies and
even its industry.
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
4
Strategic Thinking
From NTP:
A big picture look outside the boundaries of
your organization to include the system it
sits within, it’s history and competencies
and consider needs and opportunities based
on that larger system.
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
5
Competencies of Strategic Thinking
From Liedtka:

Systems perspective
 Intent Focused
 Thinking in Time
 Hypothesis Driven
 Intelligent Opportunism
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
6
Strategic Thinking



What other competencies from the
reading?
What makes sense to you?
How can you apply this to your
department?
Adobe Case Study
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
7
Strategic Planning





What it is
Internal and External
How to do it
The key questions
The Sweet Spot Model
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
8
Vision
External
Internal
Key Strategies
Goals
Work Plans
Integrated Planning
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
9
Internal Vision





It’s about Organization and Team
Driven by Values and Principles
To execute on the business plan
Very inclusive process
Drives the Culture & Capability
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
10
External Vision





It’s about product, market & positioning
Multi-dimensional problem
Driven by the stage
Very closely held process
Requires strategic thinking that not
everyone can do
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
11
The Key Questions






What business you are in
What is changing around you
Who you serve, in order of priority
What they want - now and in the
future
Who or what you compete with
How they differentiate themselves
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
12
The Key Questions






What core competence you have
What drives your business
What you don’t do
Which you do offer
Why on all of the above
How you will do it
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
13
Looking for the Sweet Spot
Customer Needs
The Future
The Business We Are In
Our Competitors
Our Capabilities
The Sweet Spot
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
14
Real Time Strategy




Bring in what you are learning from the
Market
Ask the questions again and again
It’s normal to adapt your strategy several
times in the stages of growth
“Live, Learn and Launch!”
•
Fred Wright, CEO, Who’s Calling
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
15
Iterate, Iterate, Iterate




Keep turning the pieces around
Look at them from all sides
See how the second changes the first
and third
Look for new insights
Which we will start today
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
16
What Business Are you In?




The first question.
It defines the pyramid
It influences all other decisions
Some Examples
• Fire department
• PUD

How to think about it for IT?
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
17
Who are the customer?




Who are they?
What do they want?
What pain do you ease?
In what order of Priority?
With Feedback from the Customers
(how do you get feedback?)
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
18
Trends



What trends may impact us?
What trends may impact our customers?
What changes are we anticipating?
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
19
Who or What is the Competition

Who do we compete against?

What do we compete against?
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
20
What are our Competencies?

What are we getting good at
•
•
•
•
•

Knowledge
Skills
Abilities
Connections
Insights
And what’s growing as we speak!
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
21
Scenarios to Consider

Criteria for Scenarios
• Leverage us well
• Builds core disciplines
• Meets a clear need in the market


A few to consider
Pros and Cons of Each
©Woods Creek Consulting Company, 2009
22