Strategic Planning is Hard

Trigonometry
is easy,
Strategic Roadmapping
is Hard
But why?

Strategic planning seems simple enough

My department already knows what it needs to do this year
The problem isn't a lack of
departmental knowledge




Everyone knows
their piece of the puzzle
pretty well
In an autonomous matrix organization
We all just plan differently

Models, approaches, toolkits and even common descriptions vary greatly


Ewe You Yew
Standardize Our Methods for Creating A Long Term Roadmap
No one did anything wrong;

We were all asked to plan and manage our own departments
as effectively as possible



But, we CAN improve
the way we plan.
Differences in:
Nuance & nomenclature
Bias & background
Perception & priority
Prevent our common view of what should be common goals
Start
with an
agreed upon
business
foundation:



Mission | Vision | Strategies
(1)
(2)

(3)
Apply standard roadmap building methods
tools, and terminology across department lines
The grass is greener when we use the same tools, methods and effort to care for the lawn
Build on Strategy
Tie strategies to
strategic objectives

Identify arrival points for
when an objective is met

Determine the capabilities
needed to achieve
the arrival point

Define the changes needed
to deliver each capability
Workshops help us standardize
the collection of information
around future state needs
We sort and group
needed capabilities
and work efforts
into homogenous
chunks
We look for opportunities
to combine similar
work efforts,
leveraging one investment
for multiple
strategic objectives
The Product
of
Our Equation
Common strategic goals and business ownership
Detailed workshop output & needed capabilities
Grouped work effort for leveraged investment
Prioritized roadmap showing projects interrelate
Common long term view shared with entire staff
Our combined work efforts
yield:
Current work keeps rolling








and fits into
our roadmap priorities
The Long Term Strategic Roadmap is OUR tool
Focus project work and expense on approved roadmap efforts

Manage incremental requests for work through an exception process

Revisit priorities, new strategic objectives and additions to the roadmap annually
Collaboration & Common Goals
are Our Keys to Success
And yet, only the beginning.

Let's build our well structured strategic roadmap!
So, what should we do?
And, what do we get?