What am I reading - Good Strategy / Bad Strategy

I took this one off the shelf to read again, while I wait for "The Crux" to be delivered. 

A lot of ink has been spilled on describing "good" strategy, without paying much attention to what strategy should not look like. If you can't recognise bad strategy, it's easy to pass off anything as good. Akerlof's asymmetry seems to be alive and well in the corporate world. I would strongly recommend this book for anybody with an interest in strategy.

The amount of pablum that is sold as strategy, seems to be increasing. Bland re-statements of missions, elaborate descriptions of what the organisation does day-to-day (business as usual), a list of operational projects that was going to get done anyway, suitably embellished with Sunday words, while the only obvious strategy behind it, is spending more money and trying harder. You might as well save the effort, and go find a strategy on the Internet. Just hit "Refresh" for a new one. Kudos to Simon and Bill. A decade later, I still snigger at this. Nowadays, all it needs is a "Powered by advanced AI" sticker to make it even funnier.

One bad strategy I particularly liked, is the xmas tree strategy, which tries to be "inclusive", and leave a little present under the tree for everyone. This runs contrary to the purpose of strategy, which is to focus the resources of the organisation on a limited set of targets. Not to diffuse it on a number of things that often resemble business as usual, and lack the coherence to make a dent in the actual problems. Which is why politicians aren't very good at crafting business strategy. Trying to please everyone, dilutes the ability of the organisation to decisively act on changes or opportunities.

As in chapter 3, we often find goals or metrics dressed up as strategy. It could be to "become the best" or "a leader" in something, or to hit some number of something. Goals and metrics are good, and we need them, but they are not strategy. The crux is in finding what prevents you from reaching your goals or hitting your numbers, and devising a way to deal with it. That is your strategy. Goals or numbers aren't strategy. Actually, without a strategy - a way to address the things that prevent you from reaching them - your goals and metrics run the risk of becoming just wishful thinking. Held aloft by hot hope. Wishing and whipping can only get you so far.

The strategy process in many organisations may qualify as an interesting parlour game. Especially if it ultimately proves futile to overcome the fundamental challenges that prevent the organisation from reaching its goals. For me, this is the core message. Your strategy should directly address your most fundamental challenges. Especially the elephant in the room. No matter how hard you want something, or how incredible it will be to have, if you can't come up with a coherent way to make it happen, it's not strategy.

I think this book effectively describes the hard work of strategy. Understanding where you are, where you want to be, and being honest and clear about what must change to get you there. Minefields abound here. Part III (Thinking like a strategist) offers good advice on approaching the process with the correct views. But once you get into it, you will require details. Things often get messy here. Shoddy analysis, personal bias, pet peeves or popular opinion based on vibes rather than fact, can easily lead you into the wrong choices. Chasing that new fad may feel right in the moment, but can backfire spectacularly. Often in ways that become rather obvious in hindsight. You need proper insight here, or risk wat Deming described as "tampering" with your organisation, or iatrogenics. (To characterise how we try to manipulate things without understanding, often ending up with more problems than before.)

I enjoyed the case studies on drawing from various "inner powers", new-speak or "positive energy", instead of identifying and dealing with the things that stand in your way. You can’t rely on motivation because it comes and goes. Implementing strategy takes months or years of sustained effort. Building good habits and applying them in a disciplined way is a much more reliable approach. A trite (but in my opinion, helpful) statement is that discipline equals freedom. It's not like in the movies, where you magically rise to the level of your challenge. In the real world, you fall to the level of your habits.

At some point, you must start making choices. Strategy may be about what will be done, but it's equally about what won't be done. The resources you will focus on important problems, must come from somewhere. Which often means that some parts of the organisation will have to carry the pain of making do with less. The book offers us useful insight on choosing, and how important it is in the strategy process. Failure to choose, especially if the choice could be unpopular, explains a lot of the bad strategy we see. Ignoring the elephant in the room, even if it is clearly standing in the way of your goals, won't produce good strategy. Yes, strategy is hard like that.

This book defines strategy as problem solving. I couldn't agree more. Strategy is significantly different, and much harder, than goal setting. You have to come up with an effective diagnosis, and display sufficient wit, wisdom and judgement in creating a plan to deal with it. Looking back in my work life, the strategies that worked, were the ones that dealt with the challenges. Whether it was already included before I even touched the project, or came as a result of identifying stakeholders, and addressing architecturally significant concerns. There were also a few lucky ones without any obstacles. Those are rare exceptions. Savour them. And look over your shoulder, many times, to see if you haven't missed anything. The ones that didn't work, either ignored the gnarly problems, or didn't deal with them effectively. Those problems always came back to bite. With interest.

From an enterprise archiecture perspective, this book gives valuable insight into what an architect should look for in a business strategy, and excellent pointers for developing and improving your own strategies. It helps you sort the wheat from the chaff, which is exceptionally handy if you must somehow make things happen in the real world. In many cases, you have to work with whatever you are given. Optimal or not. But knowing what you need, or can expect from a good strategy, means that you can focus on putting the missing pieces in place, as part of you architecture development process. Depending on how your organisation rolls, filling in the blanks (even the big ones) is sometimes just part of your job, anyway. Nothing wrong with that. Excellent read. Highly recommended. I learnt a lot. Kudos to the good Prof for taking the time to write it.