Nothing Getting Done These Days?

You keep approving new product and market developments - the team appears eager and committed - there are hot prospects for the new stuff and yet – nothing gets finished.

Everyone is frustrated - the CEO, the developer and the marketeer - what gives?

Early in my career I took over a software development group that hadn’t produced a result in over 18 months.  I quickly identified the problem.  We had grown to a point where anything significant took a minimum of nine months.  The Executive Team met quarterly and was highly effective in identifying the current “hot prospects” and their need for products. A new and better set of marching orders would flow.  (After all, they had another 90 days of data to base a “better” decision on.)

“Drop everything and start work on this - it’s what we really need! - Today.”

Well - it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if it takes 9 months to produce a result and you change direction every 3 months you’ll never finish anything.

First rule of development

I immediately established a new rule.  Once you start a development you finish it - period.  Make your best decision, commit the company and team and then finish. 

OK, you may scale the development back or make adjustments and of course if the entire world has changed you don’t beat your head into the ground - but:

You can't produce results unless you finish what you start.

But in a changing world how can you stay the course?  How can you maintain stability in an inherently unstable world?

Development is investment.  You need to establish a stable platform to stand on while making that investment.  A platform that remains stable long enough to complete the tasks and reap the rewards.

The bigger the investment, typically - the longer the payback period and the greater the required period of stability. Likewise the more “tactical” an action the quicker you want  to be able to react and adapt.

Progress Pyramid™

The solution to this conflicting need to be reactive while maintaining long term stability is to create not one, but a series of stable platforms that provide a hierarchy of stability. Each level focuses and communicates to the organization over a specific period.  Visualize the hierarchy as a pyramid.

Vision, Mission, and Strategy provide the stable base

The 5 year to infinity base of the pyramid is the Vision. The Vision is a short couple of sentences, identifying your organization’s:

• core ideology - the core values and purpose, and
• envisioned future - the 5 - 100 year big hairy audacious goal (BHaG.).

The 3-5 year next level up the pyramid is the 1-2 paragraph Mission Statement. If you make a change in the Mission or Vision it affects everybody’s job and every investment. The Mission Statement is an affirmation of where you want to be in 5 years, answering the basic questions of:

• who you want to be
• what you want to do
• who you want to do it for, and
• why you do it.

The 1½ - 3 year next level is a single page statement of your Product/Market Strategy. The Product/Market Strategy specifies what markets you intend to serve 3-5 years from now and what products/services those future customers will be paying for.  This is not crystal ball stuff - it is not a projection nor a forecast but rather a detailed statement of the organization’s intent. Having established where you want to be in 5 years, you now write down the milestones you have to hit within 1½ years.  Finally, with a clear focus of where you want to be in 1½ years, list the key development activities of your strategy for the next 18 months.

Strategic Goals to change the status quo

With these three stable platforms to stand on we begin the segue between strategy and tactics. This starts with a 1-1½ year level - a set of 5 or so Strategic Goals. These goals should :

• affect a change in the status quo with major impact over the next 3-5 years
• be executable over the next 12 months.

The 1 year level consists of a set of quantitative results for each goal (you can call them outcomes or objectives). Each key result measure becomes the objective of at least one executive’s annual MBO.

Finally, at the top of the pyramid are specific action steps that define your current tactical approach to achieving the results. This is appropriately the least stable and most reactive of all levels.  Action steps live in the world of now - today, this week, this month, this quarter i.e. the next 90 days.  Each action step is described by the old Texas Instruments concept of W3:

• What action will be completed?  (Not thought about, considered, or started but completed!)
• Who is going to make sure the action gets done? (A single accountable party.)
• When will the action be completed? (When within the next 90 days will it be done?)

Be proactive and create your future

Creating the future is a process of initiating change. Segmenting your focus into a hierarchical series of manageable time frames facilitates defining, managing,  and implementing that change.

The best way to establish the pyramid is through a focused strategic planning meeting with the executive team.  The planning process provides a basis for commitment - individual commitment to producing results and the company’s commitment of attention and resources.

Why wait? Myrna Associates can guarantee you will have a strategic plan in less than two weeks - and all it takes you and your team is two intensive days! Check out our premier strategic planning service today.