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Getting More Strategic
- roenxi 1y ago> This is the first rule of strategy: strategy is contextual. ... Is there any aspect of anything business related that isn't contextual? Tactics are even more contextual than strategy. Optimisation is contextual. Programming is contextual. Sales is contextual. Cleaning is contextual, sometimes people leave contextual notes out saying "don't clean this desk". The big problem with strategy is it is so contextual that you cannot, in fact, write a general article on "Getting More Strategic". Without a specific context to be strategic in, all that is left is a generic call to make good decisions. Which is a nice sentiment, but void of useful meaning. This article doesn't actually say very much, there is a high rate of platitudes because there isn't any context to talk about. Strategy is how to decide which tactics to use. If your tactics are polished and well done, basic strategy will be enough. If the tactics are sub-par, I recommend a strategy of learning to execute better.
- treetalker 1y agoYes, although the author tells us right away that "one of [their] ongoing obsessions" is "how to be seen as strategic". Hence writing the piece and getting it posted on HN.
- maffyoo 1y agoexecute what though? by far the best content on strategy I have read is Peter Compo, a point he repeatedly makes is that the whole execution argument is meaningless without a strategy (and its many tactics, plans, compromises) to execute. So, what are you executing?
- andrewflnr 1y agoExecute basics like making a good product, answering your customer emails, keeping up on the utilities, etc. Basics you know you'll have to do regardless of strategy.
- heymijo 1y agoThere's an old Drucker quote "there's nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all." If you're in the wrong market or building for the wrong customers you can execute brilliantly on everything you mentioned and it won't matter. The only thing that matters is product market fit or finding it if you don't have it. That's what I see as unsaid in your parent's comment about "execute what though?"
- andrewflnr 1y ago... yes. One of us is missing the point. It's probably me, but even if you're running a lawn care company there will be annoying details you have to get right. That's execution.
- heymijo 1y agoPerhaps it's more that we are looking at it from different levels. A contrived example to illuminate: If I'm running a lawn care company in the desert I can get all those annoying details right and still be unsuccessful. So strategy is not opening a lawn care company in the desert. If you think I'm missing something you are saying, please let me know!
- andrewflnr 1y agoHaha sure, that works. Or tailor your services for xeriscaping. The thing is, that's sufficiently obvious that it's not the kind of thing we're usually looking for when we talk about "strategy". Important, yes, but probably not what I was asking about. So maybe there's "strategy" on the level of "sell something that non-zero people want", then there's execution on the details, and then a higher level of strategy that's maybe related to fine tuning product market fit, etc. But that feels like a weird discontinuity in "strategy" along the priority axis, and definitely doesn't fit with the conventional tone of "strategic thinking", which is definitely more on the "higher" level end of that spectrum.
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- ojbyrne 1y agoI guess I’m an “under-indexed person” (whatever that is) because I didn’t really enjoy that. I’ve always been a Porter guy when it comes to business strategy though. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter's_generic_strategies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter's_generic_strategies
- lblume 1y agoNon-mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter's_generic_strategies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter's_generic_strategies
- jppope 1y agoHere are some of my thoughts on strategy vs tactics: https://jonpauluritis.com/articles/books-strategy-tactics/ https://jonpauluritis.com/articles/books-strategy-tactics/
- sunscream89 1y agoThis is nice and I enjoyed reading your experiences, though this is wrong: > Wisdom is possessing a beyond-expert vocabulary of effective tactics that will work in a given discipline at that time. Wisdom is the ability to navigate ignorance. Wise people do not fail when they are ignorant, they proceed with humble caution until the unknowable challenges are behind them. Let me guess, you’re an ESTJ? I know, it isn’t fair, your brain is optimized for literal perception, not to see the world as a framework of principles. Though you generate abstract principles from your experience, so you and the product of your efforts can be appreciated by those who value principles. Strategy is knowing how to frame and manipulate the rules of “the game”. And tactics are specific applications for exploiting those rules.
- fnordian_slip 1y agoI just wanted to let you know that the reason you're being downvoted is probably the perceived condescension in your use of the Myers Briggs test (which is effectively just a horoscope for pseudo-intellectuals).
- sunscream89 1y agoDon’t sweat it. I know these idiots cannot see my amusing point. The funny thing is …
- sunscream89 1y agoThis is what defines an intellectual from a pseudo intellectual: One searches for curious truths, and another takes others’ word for it. And yes, I have spotted fnords, and lived to tell about it.
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- erfgerfgwertg 1y ago[flagged]
- svat 1y ago> It’s never been easier to be DDOS’d by the job and think that means we’re doing a good one Loved this line; a good reminder!
- divan 1y agoI read this book after seeing a lot of recommendations in HN comments, and boy did it deliver. Other Rumelt's books are great too, but this one really reshapes your understanding of such an overused word as "strategy".
- sbmthakur 1y agoCan anyone recommend a good summary?
- SatvikBeri 1y agoAfter skimming a few, I think this is a good one: https://jlzych.com/2018/06/27/notes-from-good-strategy-bad-strategy/ https://jlzych.com/2018/06/27/notes-from-good-strategy-bad-s... Though a lot of the value of the book is in the examples, so if you like the summary, I'd encourage you to read the whole thing.
- sbmthakur 1y agoThank you! My initial hunch was to treat it as a self-help book but it does look something better than that.
- justjico 1y agoI would also recommend Value Based Strategy by felix oberholzer gee. Here’s a link to a video he made summarizing top ideas in the book: https://youtu.be/o7Ik1OB4TaE https://youtu.be/o7Ik1OB4TaE
- lijok 1y agoWhat’s an “under-indexed” person?
- brap 1y agoI don’t know but it made me stop reading
- myko 1y agoIt just means someone who is part of a demographic that isn't as represented as would be expected based on the average. E.g., if Black folks are 10% of the residents of your city and you had 1 Black individual in an office of 20 people, they'd be under-indexed. If you had 2, they wouldn't be.
- ipnon 1y agoSo it's essentially synonymous with "marginalized"?
- myko 1y agoNot exactly–in my example above the 1 Black person in 20 or the 2 Black folks out of 20 would be "under-indexed" and "not under-indexed" respectively but all 3 are members of a marginalized group
- ikr678 1y agoI think in the context of the article it might be more skill related - eg if you were the only engineer in a room full of people making engineering decisions. You might not be marginalised in the greater business, but for a particular project or strategic issue you might be under-represented.