Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning is where a technology manager lays out the long-term path his company or department will follow. It does not dwell on any one system or project, but instead focuses on the overall technology roadmap.

For example, your strategic plan could specify that your group will replace the current email system with a web and mobile-enabled messaging system. Initially, no companies or specific software would be mentioned, as the focus is wide rather than deep. Later, during the project phase you will get into systems specifications. Strategic plans are usually in the six months to two-year range. Any shorter than that and you are mixing strategic and project plans. Any longer than that and technology will make most of your work obsolete by the time the project phase kicks off.

Strategic planning requires a different focus than that of projects. A project is by nature very detail oriented. A strategic plan is more concept oriented. A good tool to capture concepts is a concept map. Concept maps can be multi-page and multi-dimensional. For example, a top-level concept map could show principal concepts, and each principal concept can be 'drilled down' to reveal more detailed concept maps.

Capturing the broad concepts of your strategic plans leads you to the next step: defining the domain of each element of your strategic plan. For example, you've been tasked by senior management to develop a customer portal for the manufacturing division. A concept map of all things related to manufacturing has been constructed, and from that you can define the domain of the customer portal. The domain is where the element in question will "live". That is, all things internal and external that either affect or are affected by the element in question.

From your concept map, you can determine domain information such as:

Access (Internet)
Users (Customers, Sales Reps, Tech Support, Senior Management)
External Systems (Customer Databases, Customer PCs, Third Party)
Internal Systems (Sales, Marketing, Development, Security, Network Administration, Tech Support)

In some cases, it is helpful to divide your domain into sub-domains, which may be more manageable. For example, in our message system example you could divide your overall domain into internal and external domains (or company and client domains). A vital concept must be mentioned at this point. It is from your concept mapping and domain analysis that you should derive the criteria for your eventual implementation. If you try to force your initial work into a predetermined category, such as "must use Microsoft Exchange" you run a high risk of failure to achieve customer satisfaction as well as fall short of corporate needs. In addition, if you are using an automated tool, you may wish to use both the tool and a manual process to ensure that you are not letting the tool constrain your analysis to its artificial limitations.

At this point you should have a pretty clear idea of the scope of your strategic plan elements. Once you have performed the above steps for each element in your overall strategic plan, a final consideration must be made. What is your budget?

While senior management provides some direction for budget priorities, it is your job to decide how and when to implement the strategic plan. Comprehensive risk analysis can aid in that decision-making process. What is the risk if you implement part A of your plan first, then parts B and C? Which parts of your strategic plan directly affect the customer? Which parts enable the rest of your strategic plan? Proper execution will make or break your strategic plan implementation. Be sure to consult your team, your associates and (often most importantly) the people who have been at your company the longest. Differing viewpoints can reveal factors you have not taken into consideration.

Finally, if all of this seems overwhelming, don't hesitate to bring in consultants or professional service companies to help you out. Often contracted services are used in the strategic planning phase or in the implementation phase. You must remain in control at all times, though, lest the contractors determine the direction (and fate) of your strategic plan.

Until next time, thanks for Talking Technology with me!