IT Strategy frameworks are tools that help structure IT practitioners think through actions and investments into information technologies to accomplish specific objectives. They are used to analyze problems and develop strategies, tactics and specific actions to take to resolving these issues. The following frameworks are the key frameworks that we use to think through from a strategic level how we approach IT strategy.
The Problem
IT strategic thinking, decisions and implementation methods in the Pacific are typically based on very poor theoretical foundations. This leads to high risks of failures in programmes and projects.
Proposed Solution
Establish a set of common strategic management frameworks to help guide high level strategic thinking across disciplines
The following 5 frameworks outlined below are used to analyse and think through strategic decisions and actions.
OODA LOOP
What does it do?
Helps us understand how decisions are made and helps us diagnose where things may have gone wrong when problems arise
What does it say?
All decisions cycle through 4 separate and distinct phases. These are: Observation of what is happening in the environment; Orientation and understanding of what has been observed; Deciding what to do based on this understanding; Acting on the decision; These actions then have some impact on the situation and this is then re-observed and the cycle then repeats.
Helps us understand what type of systems we are dealing with and which management methods would be appropriate to apply to each system
What does it say?
There are 3 types of systems, Ordered systems, Complex systems and Chaotic systems. Each one needs to be managed differently. Ordered Systems can be further split into Obvious / Common Systems and Complicated systems.
Helps us map and understand what an operating environment looks like and where we should be investing our resources
What does it say?
All things evolve through 4 distinct phases driven by supply and demand competition. For technology these 4 stages are: Stage 1. Scientific Research is conducted into a some phenomena to understand it, Stage 2. Using the understanding of this phenomenon, tools are created to harness this phenomenon to solve some real world problem Stage 3. If valuable (demand side), more and more of these custom built solutions are created (supply side) and a market begins to from. As the market develops competition begins to intensify and then stabilise around a common design and the solution becomes a mass market product with very little differentiation. Stage 4. Eventually the solution becomes so standardised and commodised that it becomes a utility service, taken for granted by the general population until it is no longer available.
Helps us understand if a particular solution should be implemented
What does it say?
All system designs MUST satisfy 3 conditions before implementation can begin Desirable – The solution solves enough of a problem for people that they are happy to allocate resources to its development and maintenance Feasible – the solution can be implemented with the allocated resources Viable – the solution can be sustained long term because the revenue streams exceed the cost structure of the system
Helps us understand and communicate the scope of a government system as well as the order in which it’s constituent components need to be implement and why they need to be implemented in a particular order
What does it say?
All governance systems have 3-axis in which scope can be understood. These axes are the Governance Domain, these are the places where constraints can be imposed on a system to influence the behaviour of the entities operating within it; Governance Functions, these are the tasks that are carried out by governments to ensure the entities adhere to the rules; Governed Entities, these are the entities whose behaviour we are trying to influence
Helps us understand how to architect a data warehouse system.
What does it say?
Data marts are repositories of data belonging to particular lines of business. The data warehouse is simply a combination of different data marts that facilitates reporting and analysis. Based on Ralph Kimballs “bottom up” approach (Note that this is in contrast to Bill Inmons “top down” approach, (i.e. the Data warehouse is the centralised repository, data marts are created from it)
A framework for understanding how to deal with different types of systems
We help you conduct a situational analysis of the current operating environment based on the needs of the system you’re trying to implement. This involves assessing the current technological landscape and climate and then mapping out the value chains that will be required to create the system. To do this we use a technique called wardley mapping.
Wardley mapping was created by researcher Simon Wardley who is an evolutionary biologist by training. Here he explains the technique at OSCON 2014.
Simon Wardley presenting at OSCON 2014
Here’s a simple visual diagram that we use with clients to develop their strategies.
A mapping framework for building an understanding of the technology landscape
When helping you develop a strategy, it is absolutely critical that we build up a shared understanding among stakeholders of the following components of a strategy:
Methods
This is how we facilitate the creation of your strategy. We create design thinking workshops to
Process Mapping: Map out your current processes, whos involved and what is it that they do
Performance Mapping: Then we define what the processes performance metrics are for effectiveness and efficiency.
Empathy Mapping: We then create an empathy map for each stakeholder involved in the process to get an understanding of what issues they are facing.
Value Chain Mapping: From here we can identify the components needed to create a solution to address the issues identified for each stakeholder.
To effectively build a shared understanding of your strategy we follow a few key design principles:
Group Workshops rather than individual desktop work
Face to Face interactions rather than emails
Filling out Visual Frameworks rather than Report Writing
We’ve listed below a few concepts that we will need to establish in order with you to ensure we are all on the same page.
Purpose
When working in government, you are typically in the business of shaping the behaviour of the entities (citizens, companies etc.) your department is responsible for.
Your goal typically is to create rules that ensure that amplify good behaviour and dampen bad behaviour within the jurisdiction you are responsible for. Before developing strategy you need understand and be aware of how rules affect behaviour. This is difficult to do as the consequences of rule changes may have unintended negative consequences. We’ll show you how to do this using by running multiple safe to fail experiments in sandboxed environment.
OODA Loop overlaid on Tsun Tzu’s 5 factor of competition in the Art of War – Image courtesy of Simon Wardley, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Landscape
To develop strategy you must first understand the landscape you are operating in. To do this you must:
Know your users (who are you serving) – covered by process mapping
Know their needs – covered by empathy mapping
Know the prerequisite activities to meet those needs – covered by value chain mapping
Add position (connect users, needs, and prerequisites from top to bottom according to dependence) – covered by value chain mapping
Add movement (place needs and prerequisites left to right according to evolutionary stage) – covered by value chain mapping
Governance
In government the environment in which you operate typically consists of:
Governance Stack; the mechanisms used to shape behaviour e.g. legislation
Governance Functions; the activities the government carries out in order to shape behaviour e.g. Registration, Authorisation, Monitoring, Inspection, Prosecution etc.
Governed Entities; the actors whose behaviours we are trying to shape e.g. Citizens, Companies etc.
Governing Entities; the guys who decide what the rules should be e.g. Political parties / Politicians / Policy Makers, Regulators, Government Departments etc.
The Governance Stack can be broken down into:
International and Regional Agreements
Legislation and Regulations
Policies
Processes and Procedures
Technology
The Governance Function can be broken down into:
Registration
Authorisation
Verification
Whitelisting
Monitoring
Inspection
Investigation
Prosecution
Blacklisting
The Governed Entities (and Assets) can be broken down into:
Natural Persons i.e. Citizens
Legal Persons e.g. Corporations, Companies, Organisations etc.
Assets e.g. Land, Property, Vehicles, Vessels etc.
All things evolve and this is true in technology. Technology evolves in a predictable fashion.
Technology typically starts with scientific investigation or research into a phenomenon. As scientists build up an understanding of the phenomenon further novel uses are discovered and developed for application of the phenomenon to problems. These novel uses are the birth of the technology (research phase).
Based on this research an understanding begins to grow on how to apply the technology to various other problems. A few scientists, engineers and hobbyists begin to use this understanding to create custom built applications for the use of the technology (development phase).
As development accelerates a market begins to form around the technology, a few companies emerge to provide the technology to the masses as a commodity product. Over several decades the market around the technology drives it the point where it is so commodised (cheap, reliable, repeatable) that it is used as a building block for other technologies. (market phase)
Some technologies evolve to such a highly commoditized stage where they can be delivered as a utility service (utility phase).
The table below contains a list of characteristics to help you determine how evolved something is.
Stage of Evolution
I
II
III
IV
Characteristics
Ubiquity
Rare
Slowly increasing consumption
Rapidly increasing consumption
Widespread and stabilising
Certainty
Poorly understood
Rapid increases in learning
Rapid increases in use / fit for purpose
Commonly understood (in terms of use)
Publication Types
Normally describe the wonder of the thing
Build / construct / awareness and learning
Maintenance / operations / installation / features
Focused on use
General Properties
Market
Undefined market
Forming market
Growing market
Mature market
Knowledge management
Uncertain
Learning on use
Learning on operation
Known / accepted
Market perception
Chaotic (non-linear)
Domain of experts
Increasing expectations of use
Ordered (appearance of being linear) / trivial
User perception
Different / confusing / exciting / surprising
Leading edge / emerging
Common / disappointed if not used or available
Standard / expected
Perception in industry
Competitive advantage / unpredictable / unknown
Competitive advantage / ROI / case examples
Advantage through implementation / features
Cost of doing business / accepted
Focus of value
High future worth
Seeking profit / ROI?
High profitability
High volume / reducing margin
Understanding
Poorly understood / unpredictable
Increasing understanding / development of measures
Increasing education / constant refinement of needs / measures
Believed to be well defined / stable / measurable
Comparison
Constantly changing / a differential / unstable
Learning from others / testing the water / some evidential support
Feature difference
Essential / operational advantage
Failure
High / tolerated / assumed
Moderate / unsurprising but disappointed
Not tolerated, focus on constant improvement
Operational efficiency and surprised by failure
Market action
Gambling / driven by gut
Exploring a “found” value
Market analysis / listening to customers
Metric driven / build what is needed
Efficiency
Reducing the cost of change (experimentation)
Reducing cost of waste (Learning)
Reducing cost of waste (Learning)
Reducing cost of deviation (Volume)
Decision drivers
Heritage / culture
Analysis & synthesis
Analysis & synthesis
Previous experience
Determining Movement
The movement of a component along the X axis is determined by its stage of evolution.
Don’t worry if some of the terms are confusing… just use what you can. Like Chess, mapping is a craft and you will get better with practice.Simon Wardley in Finding a Path
Climate
The forces acting upon the environment. The rules of the game, patterns of the seasons, and competitor actions.
Competitors
Competitors actions will change the game
Most competitors have poor situational awareness
Components
Everything evolves through supply and demand competition
Evolution consists of multiple waves of diffusion with many chasms
No choice over evolution
Commoditisation does not equal Centralisation
Characteristics change as components evolve
No single method fits all
Components can co-evolve
Financial
Higher order systems create new sources of value
Future value is inversely proportional to the certainty we have over it.
Efficiency does not mean a reduced spend
Evolution to higher order systems results in increasing energy consumption
Capital flows to new areas of value
Creative Destruction
Inertia
Success breeds inertia
Inertia increases the more successful the past model is
Inertia can kill an organisation
Prediction
You cannot measure evolution over time or adoption
The less evolved something is then the more uncertain it is
Not everything is random
Economy has cycles
Two different forms of disruption
A “war” (point of industrialisation) causes organisations to evolve
Speed
Efficiency enables innovation
Evolution of communication can increase the speed of evolution overall
Change is not always linear
Shifts from product to utility tend to demonstrate a punctuated equilibrium
The following are patterns that are very important to learn.
Pattern 1: All things evolve
Everything evolves from left to right under the influence of supply and demand competition.
Genesis Unique
Custom Uncommon
Product
Commodity
Genesis Unique, rare, uncertain, constantly changing, newly-discovered.The focus is on exploring.
Custom Uncommon, frequently-changing, requires artisanal skill, no two are the same.The focus is on learning and developing the craft
Product (and rental) Increasingly common, more defined, better understood. Repeatable processes. Change is slower. Initial differentiation but increasing stability and sameness. There are often many of the same kind of product.The focus is on refining and improving.
Commodity (and utility)Scale and volume operations of production. Highly standardized. Defined. Fixed. Undifferentiated. Fit for a specific known purpose. Repetition, repetition, repetition… With time, it becomes commonplace and less visible.The focus is on ruthlessly removing deviation, industrialising, and increasing operational efficiency.
Pattern 2: Characteristics Change
As components evolve, their characteristics change.
Uncharted
Industrialised
Chaotic
Ordered
Uncertain
Known
Unpredictable
Measured
Changing
Stable
Different
Standard
Exciting
Obvious
Future Worth
Low Margin
Unusual
Essential
Rare
Ubiquitous
Poorly Understood
Defined
Experimentation
Volume Operations
Differential
Operational Efficiency
Competitive Advantage
Cost of Doing Business
Doctrine (Self-Assessment)
The training of your people, the standard ways of operating, and the techniques that you almost always apply. Select cells multiple times to progress through colors indicating a weak, warning, good, and neutral (undetermined) status.
Phase 1: Stop Self Harm
Communication
Use a common language (necessary for collaboration)
Challenge assumptions (speak up and question)
Focus on high situational awareness (understand what is being considered)
Development
Know your users (e.g. customers, shareholders, regulators, staff)
Focus on user needs
Remove bias and duplication
Use appropriate methods (e.g. agile vs lean vs six sigma)
Learning
Use a systematic mechanism of learning (a bias towards data)
Operations
Think small (as in know the details)
Phase 2: Becoming More Context Aware
Communication
Be transparent (a bias towards open)
Development
Focus on the outcome not a contract (e.g. worth based development)
Be pragmatic (it doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white so long as it catches mice)
Use appropriate tools (e.g. mapping, financial models)
Think fast, inexpensive, restrained, and elegant (FIRE, formerly FIST)
Use standards where appropriate
Leading
Move fast (an imperfect plan executed today is better than a perfect plan executed tomorrow)
Strategy is iterative not linear (fast reactive cycles)
Learning
A bias towards action (learn by playing the game)
Operations
Manage failure
Manage inertia (e.g. existing practices, political capital, previous investment)
Effectiveness over efficiency
Structure
Think aptitude and attitude
Think small (as in teams, “two pizza”)
Distribute power and decision making
Phase 3: Better for Less
Leading
Be the owner (take responsibility)
Think big (inspire others, provide direction)
Strategy is complex (there will be uncertainty)
Commit to the direction, be adaptive along the path (crossing the river by feeling the stones)
Be humble (listen, be selfless, have fortitude)
Learning
A bias towards the new (be curious, take appropriate risks)
Operations
Optimise flow (remove bottlenecks)
Do better with less (continual improvement)
Set exceptional standards (great is just not good enough)
Structure
Seek the best
Provide purpose, mastery, & autonomy
Phase 4: Continuously Evolving
Leading
Exploit the landscape
There is no core (everything is transient)
Learning
Listen to your ecosystems (acts as future sensing engines)
Structure
Design for constant evolution
There is no one culture (e.g. pioneers, settlers and town planners)
By examining the doctrine in an organization, you can get an idea of how adaptable it is and how well it will respond to external change or gameplay. You can do this with your own organization, or with other organizations.
In-person? Gather several people from different levels of the organization and perform the above self-assessment together. (There may be arguments, but that’s not a bad thing.) Distributed? See this form-based assessment by Justin Stach.
Once you’ve assessed the status quo of doctrine in your organization, you can go about addressing areas of weakness. Simon suggests you do this in phases. The above self-assessment’s phases presents his best guess at the order in which you should tackle them.
Leadership (Gameplay)
The context-specific strategy you choose after considering your purpose, the landscape, the climate, and your capabilities.
To increase competition in content, the obvious option is to cause the industrialization (evolution) of the creative studios. More competition among studios would result in more, better content, so how could we make that happen?
A naive move might be to launch an independent creative studio or form a strategic partnership to advance one particular studio, but that game can all-too-easily be lost. There are more interesting options in the lower-level constraints (a Fool’s Mate).
If there were more competition among production systems, for example, the barrier to entry for new talent and therefore new creative studios would be lowered. An open approach would accelerate that process, indirectly causing increased competition among creative studios and ultimately content.
Chances are, the existing creative studios won’t have the situational awareness to recognize the play for what it is. In fact, they might support it in the name of short-term cost savings. Wild! Read more on this scenario in Simon’s post, Fool’s mate in Business.
Glossary
Name
Description
Context
Our purpose and the landscape
Environment
The context and how it is changing
Situational awareness
Our level of understanding of the environment
Actual
The map in use
Domain
Uncharted vs Transitional vs Industrialised
Stage
Of evolution e.g. Genesis, Custom, Product, Commodity
Type
Activity, Practice, Data or Knowledge
Component
A single entity in a map
Anchor
The user need
Position
Position of a component relative to the anchor in a chain of needs
Need
Something a higher level system requires
Capability
High level needs you provide to others
Movement
How evolved a component is
Interface
Connection between components
Flow
Transfer of money, risk & information between components
Climate
Rules of the game, patterns that are applied across contexts
Doctrine
Approaches which can be applied regardless of context