14: Step 2 - Dissect
A strategic vision is large-scale, and as such it can often be vague, so the next step is to dissect it into component parts. Some of the advantages of dissection are:
- You may discover new "leverage points" that affect the strategy, which enable you to identify key variables that you had not considered before
- You may be able to adjust the scope of the problem or solution, to include things that were not previously identified or exclude things that do not need to be altered
- You will have a more actionable plan, as a grand vision often seems unachievable until it is detailed and articulated
The author's method for this is a "system map" that outlines causal relationships, their variables, and their dependencies so that you can understand how changes in one area may affect others.
He returns again to the early days of the smart phone industry, when many device manufacturers had the same vision: a mobile phone that could be used to communicate text information (email, text messaging, media files, and Internet) - most manufacturers focused on the device itself, and developed capabilities far in advance of the ability of a network that could manage the data.
Because they had not mapped out the system and detailed the need for all the components, they overlooked a critical element, and developed devices that had capabilities the network could not support, which in effect made those capabilities impossible in reality. Because RIM mapped out the system and recognized the network to be a weak component, they were able to plan around it and develop capabilities that could actually be used by leveraging the two-way pager network rather than the cell phone network, hence their Blackberry dominated the market for quite some time.
(EN: Unfortunately, they stuck to this model and failed to transition when the cell phone network's capabilities caught up - at which time they were left in the dust by Apple's iPhone - but for a period of five to ten years, RIM dominated the industry.)
Analyze the System
The system map is developed beginning with near-term goals - which were developed in the previous "imagine" step in which a long-term goal was digested into near-term goals. That step should have defined goals, and not the actions necessary to achieve them.
But before planning actions, explore each near-term goal: determine what must be true for you to achieve the goal. Where are you now? Where do you want to be? What conditions must stay the same? What conditions must change?
In essence, you are determining the specific changes you must make in the conditions to effect your goal - and only then can you consider how to cause those changes to occur and plan the actions you need to take.
This can be diagrammed as a hierarchy - the goal with multiple conditions, each condition with multiple changes, each change with multiple actions that will effect it. It is entirely possible that you may have only one condition for a goal, one change for a condition, and one action for the change - but such instances are rare and your strategy tends to be very rigid: if you can't do the one thing, you have no alternative to pursue. On the other hand, if you have more than about seven, your plan may be overly complex.
Systems Map Example
The author provides a rather bizarre example of systems mapping: bank robbery.
Your overall objective is simply to rob a bank. To do so, you must get there, get inside, get the money, and get out ... all without being detected or identified in the process. You have to do each of these things successfully in order to accomplish that objective, and if any one of them fails, you will not achieve the objective.
Naturally, this is a short and incomplete sequence: once you have robbed the bank, how do you launder the money? That is a separate near-term goal that will be set aside for the present.
Then, examine those components. Start with getting to the bank, which leaves you with a number of options: to walk in the front door, go through a wall or window, tunnel underground, or land on the roof.
Each of these options has advantages and disadvantages: landing on the roof circumvents the security systems that fortify the most obvious methods of entry (the door is sturdy and protected by an alarm), but has added difficulties of being difficult to do undetected (a helicopter would certainly be noticed).
(EN: Here the author leaves off the example, leaving the reader to sort out the rest.)
The Exercise
The basic steps of the system mapping exercise are repeated in a bit more detail:
First, restate your strategic goal and near-term objectives.
Then, for each near-term objectives, determine what conditions must be met to achieve it, what the current conditions are, what changes must be made.
Then, consider what actions you can take to effect the change in the conditions, ensuring that each action meets the goals and constraints, to have multiple options to succeed.
Prioritize those actions according to functional dependencies (what must be done before something else can be done) to develop an agenda that can be followed.
For each step in the agenda, define success and indicate contingencies that can be taken if the attempt does not result in success.
The end result is a detailed plan of action that should create "energy" among the members of the team - they not only know what they want to achieve, but also what they can do to achieve it.