Talk resources
The Fundamentals of Strategy
Joel Tosi & Elisabeth Hendrickson
Slides
About the session
Strategy requires choice. No choice? No strategy.
But how do you find choices? And how do you know the choices are appropriate in your situation and your context?
In this session we will explore how to find choices that enable better strategy. We will look at examples in architecture, leadership, improvement initiatives, products, and more. Along the way, we will look at how context affects potential choices and, occasionally, can make an outcome inevitable. Lastly, we will talk about buying information when in uncertainty and how to leverage options in strategy to increase learning and the chance of success
Leave this session with ideas to create better options and better strategy, leading to better outcomes.
Resources
- Mary and Tom Poppendieck — Lean Software Development: An Agile ToolkitCited in the talk’s discussion of the last responsible moment. Includes options thinking, delaying commitment, and amplifying learning. Book
- Olav Maassen and Chris Matts — “Real Options” Underlie Agile PracticesFurther reading on preserving options, understanding when they expire, and gathering information before committing. Article
- Donella Meadows — Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a SystemFurther reading on finding choices through feedback loops, information flows, and the rules of a system. Article
- Elisabeth Hendrickson — Interview with Onsi FakhouriA conversation about rewriting Cloud Foundry’s scheduler, with lessons on architecture, testing, and feedback. Video