April 5, 2017

Business Strategy Rules Rule

Business Strategy Rules

The big challenge around Business Strategy Rules and Project Design is to plan just the right amount.

My first career was as an architect. Our role was to plan every single thing before any construction started. Whilst this worked for 50-storey skyscrapers, it’s unlikely to be the best way to design your project or create your business strategy.

It prompts the question: How much is the right amount of planning?

Ironically, planning too much can waste time, money and effort. And, planning too little can also waste time, money and effort.

Planning too much can also be a form of procrastination.

Also, what’s the best way to plan when we’re tackling something you haven’t done before? How do you even know what to plan for when you can’t predict what will work?

A Good Strategic Plan

Ideally, a good strategic plan should enable us to:

Get started quickly
Give direction without limiting our choices
Learn what works through real feedback

The alternative to a big fat time-consuming plan is to create a series of project rules that define what to work on, when to work on them and how to make smart decisions along the way.

The key to Business Strategy Rules is to create rules as the means to define your strategy. Rather than define everything, simply define guidelines to use along the way.