You periodically need to revisit your diagnosis to make sure it still fits, still works for you, plays to your strengths as a team/business. It doesn't need to be fancy, or a one liner. But as you know quite well, there is no such thing as "best way" in software, only "right way, for now" ☺️ - ThreadSky

charity.wtf • 61 days ago

You periodically need to revisit your diagnosis to make sure it still fits, still works for you, plays to your strengths as a team/business.

It doesn't need to be fancy, or a one liner. But as you know quite well, there is no such thing as "best way" in software, only "right way, for now" ☺️

Comments

brmatt.dev•61 days ago

*nods enthusiastically*

Thanks, that’s interesting food for thought.

When you say “who are you competing against” are you expecting engineering strategy to _explicitly_ derive from a broader company strategy?

brmatt.dev•61 days ago

In that example there was a preamble that established longterm challenges we faced as an engineering team, and how we’d have to address them at a high level, but I’d need to read the book to know if that counts as a “diagnosis”.

cybadger.com•61 days ago

Diagnosis "defines or explains the nature of the challenge". (p77)

It simplifies the complex world, gives structure to the policy/actions, and defines the domain where actions will be taken.

"We have engineering challenges" might be a (rough) diagnosis for a company strategy.

cybadger.com•61 days ago

The "kernel" (diagnosis/policy/actions) "does not split strategies into corporate, business, or product levels" (p77). That's important to keep in mind.

So I'd say "are you expecting engineering strategy to _explicitly_ derive from a broader company strategy?" isn't quite the right question.

cybadger.com•61 days ago

I'd expect engineering to do things based on guiding policy and selected coherent actions.

But I'd be really cautious about an engineering strategy that's decoupled from company strategy.

Yeah, there's eng stuff that won't be in the corp-level strategy. But it should all fit under guiding policy.

cybadger.com•61 days ago

(Eng should def come up with their own tactical and long-term approaches, maybe even a "nested strategy". But if the org is pursuing disconnected goals (eng strat, marketing strat, sales strat...) then the overall org doesn't have a strategy. Principle of suboptimization!)

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