The right way to be more strategic

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You might have heard that the more you progress in your career, the more “strategic” you should aim to be. WTF does that mean?

Here is what I used to think “being strategic” meant:

• Setting metric goals
• “Thinking outside the box” to come up with new ideas
• Working harder and motivating others to work harder
• Writing long documents
• Creating frameworks
• Drawing graphs on a whiteboard

As a result, I tried to do as many of the above as I could. I brainstormed, wrote epic, sweeping documents, and familiarized myself with KPIs and measurements. Check, check, check went the boxes. See how well I was strategizing?

Turns out, I was just doing the equivalent of strumming a guitar and assuming I was making music. The core problem was that I didn’t really understand what strategy was. I figured “being strategic” was just engaging in high-level product discussions.

If you find yourself in the same boat, this article is for you.

So what is strategy?

Basically, a strategy is a set of actions designed to achieve a particular objective. It’s like a route designed to get you from point A to point B. A more interesting question is “what makes for a good strategy?” And for that, I subscribe to Richard Rumelt’s definition:

“A good strategy is a set of actions that is credible, coherent, and focused on overcoming the biggest hurdle(s) in achieving a particular objective.”

Let’s break that down:

• Achieving a particular objective: It should be clear what success looks like.
• Set of actions: There should be a concrete plan.
• Credible and coherent: The plan should make sense and be able to accomplish the objective. There should not be conflicting pieces.
• Focused on overcoming the biggest hurdle(s): There should be a clear diagnosis of the biggest problem(s) to be solved, and the plan should focus resources toward overcoming those hurdles.

Given the above definitions, let’s look back at my original list of “strategic” actions:

• Quoting metrics or setting goals: This is certainly a part of strategy, but it isn’t enough. You also need a credible plan.
• Coming up with new feature ideas: If you don’t know the problem you’re trying to solve, it doesn’t help to brainstorm a bunch of solutions.
• Working harder and motivating others to work harder: Working hard is great, but don’t confuse motion for progress.
• Writing long documents: This could be strategic, but it depends on the content. Good strategies are usually simple.
• Creating frameworks: Frameworks can help explain concepts, but they are not a plan. Having good frameworks is like having a clear map; you still need to chart a path.
• Drawing graphs on the whiteboard: This may look impressive but is probably classic bad strategy: a lot of jargon and fluff, a lack of real substance.

OK great, you say. Nice definitions. But the question still remains: what should I do if I want to be strategic?

1. Create alignment around what wild success looks like

2. Understand which problem you’re looking to solve and for whom

3. Prioritize and cut