In many organizations, strategy is developed as an annual event where long-term planning occurs. Often, these long-term plans are overshadowed and influenced by short-term needs. Strategy requires a long-term perspective, yet the daily demands of the business pull us towards incremental thinking.
CTOs face the additional challenge of managing the tension between addressing immediate technical needs and aligning technology strategies with long-term business objectives. In reality, the pressure of the “here and now” often wins over the long-term strategy.
Learn from this CTO mistake:
1. Don’t look at the future from your current position. The starting point of your strategy discussion needs to be the end result. Many CTOs (and other executives) make the mistake of spending a significant effort to analyze their current condition and performance and then looking for ways to make a percentage-point improvement. Instead, look at what the required performance level and end state need to be.
2. Avoid considering just one ideal or desirable future during the strategy retreat. Instead, plan for different scenarios: a best-case, a worst-case, and a likely scenario. Include potential future challenges, changes in market conditions, and technological advancements in these scenarios. This practice helps CTOs anticipate possible shifts and ensure that short-term decisions are compatible with long-term visions.
Try this: A cascading meeting approach for strategy.
Schedule a regular sequence of meetings that connect strategy with business operations. Here is a meeting sequence that tightly connects strategy and operations.
• Strategy Summit (annually): an in-depth review of strategy, its establishment, refinement, and, if necessary, its replacement.
• Tech Roadmap Summit (semi-annually): discussing options and opportunities and building alternative future visions for your organization.
• 90-day Agenda Setting (quarterly): refinement of priorities, setting specific targets for the next quarter.
• Strategy and Roadmap Review (monthly): review the delivery of the agreed agenda; assess major initiatives in detail; identify critical issues.
• Strategy and Roadmap KPIs and Goals Check-In (weekly)
• Communicating Strategy and Roadmap (daily)
Also, remember even though you may only have one strategy summit in the year, your strategy is never set in stone. Strategy is a daily part of a CTO’s role.
Embrace agile methodologies that encourage iterative development and frequent feedback loops. Doing this allows for adjustments throughout the development process, reducing the likelihood of straying too far from long-term goals.
Are you overwhelmed by this information? Let’s connect on a call and cut through it. We’ll be able to tell you what a good first step is.
