I am a tactical weapon. A specialized blade in the warfare of business, effective at cutting through certain types of problems. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’ start back at the beginning…
HOW BUSINESS WORKS
As the saying goes, “Nothing happens until somebody sells something.” The mechanics unfold something like this… A person possessed with vision, relational skill and passion convinces another person with money that a certain thing needs doing. This thing is the VISION. It can be a product or a service but there is strong emotion and great potential attached to it.
These parties then enlist an operational executive with the skill to turn VISION into business reality. To make the VISION tangible, the organization develops a MISSION. These are the marching orders of the organization. To achieve the MISSION, research must be done and a STRATEGY must be chosen from among many options. Once a given STRATEGY is agreed to, a suite of PROJECTS can be identified that must be funded, staffed and executed in order to fulfill the MISSION.
Some of these PROJECTS may involve automation of business operations and a subset of those will involve SOFTWARE. That’s where I come in. I am the Disambiguator. My personal mission is to move drudgery from humans to machines and my role in companies is to help a team of talented engineers deliver the most valuable software possible in the time allotted.
So far, so good. We have a clear business chain of custody from VISION to MISSION to STRATEGY to PROJECT.
CURVES AHEAD
Here’s where the road gets bumpy. Most activities within an organization happen at the PROJECT level, not at the VISION, or MISSION or STRATEGY levels. The day in, day out crunch of PROJECT staffing, budgeting and scope. Chunks of work that have a deadline. Lists that must be prioritized. Dozens or hundreds of DECISIONS occur at this level – especially with regard to the scope of the project and its priorities. The larger the impact of a given decision, the more likely it is that additional clarity will be required from above the PROJECT level. Project assets like me will reach upward with questions and expect those higher in the food chain to send answers back down. This is often when trouble enters the machinery of business:
Answers to tactical questions must draw on a clear strategy. Lack of organization alignment will create waste at the tactical level through rework and failed projects.
When a mechanical engine is misaligned, parts bang into each other and become dull. The engine can misfire, lose parts, slow down or even grind to a halt. As a former software developer turned business analyst, I am much closer to being a mechanic than begin a visionary like Henry Ford. I don’t want to worry about the VISION and MISSION of the company. Nor does the STRATEGY chosen matter that much to me so long as it is ethical and I understand it. I do care how these things flow down to my level and the impact they have on our PROJECT and team. Just as senior management counts on my efficient execution at the tactical level, I expect them to do the heavy lifting of creating a clear VISION and MISSION, to select a wise STRATEGY and to communicate these critical steering messages throughout the organization. I expect them to keep the machinery of business aligned so that the tactical blades can keep moving swiftly through the challenges of today.