The Technology Doesn't Matter

CHAPTER 8The IT Strategy

A good IT strategy should cascade from the business strategy, so allow me to digress for a moment on the topic of business strategy, before we dig into IT strategy.

Over the course of my career, I have participated in dozens of business strategic planning sessions. Each one was different. Some were effective, and others were an epic waste of time.

The worst strategic planning processes are the ones I like to call “Game of Thrones Strategic Planning.” They are the protracted sagas, conducted in one- or two-hour segments over the course over several months, involving a cast of thousands. Each episode is full of political intrigue as the key figures jockey for position and power and everyone is trying to prove themselves. By the end of the process, half the cast has changed, and the resulting business strategy doesn't look anything like what everyone thought they were signing up for when the process began.

About eight years into my career, I had the opportunity to attend a training course and become certified in applied strategic planning (ASP). The tools I learned there were valuable, and I have used many of them in the years since. But each time I was involved in a real-life process based on ASP, it ended up feeling more like the epic GOT experience.

The opposite extreme is the CEO who believes that strategic planning should be done on the back of a napkin over lunch. They then scribble something pithy like “Sell stuff, make money” and tell everyone ...