Here are some rules of thumb that have helped me design strategies and tactics for my clients: 1) The already mentioned "what" and "how" distinction 2) Phrase

Here are some rules of thumb that have helped me design strategies and tactics for my clients: 1) The already mentioned "what" and "how" distinction 2) Phrase the strategy as an already-completed state of being, that is false now but will be true when met 3) Each strategy can have only ONE supporting tactic (which can be a verby action statement) 4) Each tactic can have 2:n multiple sub-strategies. 5) A sub-strategy can support multiple tactics. You end up with a DAG. In engineering in particular, the biggest impediment is that technicians tend to describe tactics when trying to describe strategies. I'm often asking, "Yes, but what objective does that meet?" or some such in response. And sometimes their answer is circular - the objective that it meets is that it eliminates the absence of their favored solution. Some people honestly never understand past that point. You have to pick your battles.