IT strategy: where to start and how to make sure it doesn’t remain on paper?

• What is strategy?
• Element № 1. The DNA of the company and the answer to the question: “Why do we need a strategy and does an IT manager need it?”
• Element № 2. Leaders and answering the questions: “Who implements the strategy and how to ensure that goals are translated into reality? How can we ensure that the strategy does not remain on paper?”
• Element № 3: Team Relationships
• Element № 4. System, Rhythm and answer to the question: “How to make a strategy adaptive? Six months have passed and everything has changed - what to do?»

I. Fedorov, consultant of the company "Strategist Land"

In this article we will answer key questions:

• What is strategy?
• Why is it needed? And does an IT manager need it?
• Who creates the strategy: do we wait “from above” or do it ourselves?
• How to ensure that the strategy does not remain on paper? Who should implement it? 
• How to make a strategy adaptive? Six months have passed and everything has changed - what to do?

What is strategy?

“First, let's agree on what the strategy is for us,” is a sentence often heard at the beginning of a strategy session.

Everyone probably remembers the classic definition - Strategy is a general, non-detailed plan covering a long period of time, a way to achieve a complex goal.

From it it is clear “What?”, but not clear “How?”. The image of a whale will help answer this question.

Strategy is the process of managing business development, which makes it sustainable and adaptive in the face of constant change.

What does the whale have to do with it? It is the largest mammal on the planet, up to 33 meters in length and weighing up to 50 tons. Its habitat is the entire world ocean, from northern waters to warm seas. A huge animal that remains flexible in movement, capable of diving up to 500 meters, emerging from the water and living up to 100 years. The perfect combination of mobility and power.

For an IT strategy to be flexible and adaptive like a whale, it is important to keep 4 elements in focus.