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I always have interesting discussions during job interviews when I answer the old "where do you see yourself in five years" or when discussing my non-linear/sta

by kriro 4y ago

I always have interesting discussions during job interviews when I answer the old "where do you see yourself in five years" or when discussing my non-linear/standard career path. I'm a bit of a fan of Mintzberg's view on strategy when it comes to career "planning" and technology companies (I'd recommend his book "Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning"). He uses a garden metaphor and basically says let everything grow and trim the weeds and his reasoning for this "dabble in different things" approach is that in a turbulent world, precise planning is not really feasible. It's basically more of a core competencies approach. Different situations require different approaches. There's also value in planning and tight operational execution in different domains. For tech...I feel like some overall "vision" and rough "roadmap" are good and then try different things and be quick to market with new ideas and willing to adapt.

Archelaos 4y ago
> Different situations require different approaches. I very much agree. When it comes to developing a meaningful strategy, this depends largely on the details of what is at issue. Imagine some really demanding business idea that could perhaps be put into reality towards the end of this century, like astroid mining or a hotel on the moon. Does it already make sense to found a company, collect money and work on a strategy? If there are too many moving targets or the goal is just too large or too distant or demands too many ressources, there may not exist a feasible strategy, no matter how hard we think about one. At the other end of the spectrum think of some boring, but established business idea, like opening a restaurant or starting an organic farm. In this case, there exist thousands of role models to learn from. Success is not guaranteed, but one does not need to re-invent the wheel to outline a strategy and get started.

by kriro 4y ago

Archelaos 4y ago

> Different situations require different approaches. I very much agree. When it comes to developing a meaningful strategy, this depends largely on the details of what is at issue. Imagine some really demanding business idea that could perhaps be put into reality towards the end of this century, like astroid mining or a hotel on the moon. Does it already make sense to found a company, collect money and work on a strategy? If there are too many moving targets or the goal is just too large or too distant or demands too many ressources, there may not exist a feasible strategy, no matter how hard we think about one. At the other end of the spectrum think of some boring, but established business idea, like opening a restaurant or starting an organic farm. In this case, there exist thousands of role models to learn from. Success is not guaranteed, but one does not need to re-invent the wheel to outline a strategy and get started.