{"id":21246,"date":"2022-05-13T09:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T07:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage-fp.webenv.pl\/blog\/?p=21246"},"modified":"2025-10-21T14:16:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T12:16:40","slug":"strategic-doing-in-it-project-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/strategic-doing-in-it-project-management\/","title":{"rendered":"Strategic Doing in IT project management"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019ve been moving from hierarchies towards networks: from waterfall models to agile methodologies. But the complexity of the problems managers face, each new day keeps increasing, and so must their capacity to generate ingenious solutions. Strategic Doing was designed to allow that, and here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Since 2005, with my Purdue University colleagues, Scott Hutcheson and Liz Nilsen we have been working on turning insight on complex collaborations into a replicable, scalable, open discipline that they call \u201cStrategic Doing.\u201d <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n


A set of skills for agile leadership<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a project manager<\/a>, you are more than familiar with strategic long-term planning as well as unexpected problems that seem to arise out of nowhere.

Agile methodologies like Scrum<\/a> help with planning and managing unanticipated problems. However, due to the fast-changing pace of the world and the speed of technological improvements, the nature of problems themselves is becoming more and more complex, and the solutions you need also become more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Strategic Doing states that the way to solve wicked problems is through high complexity collaboration and experimentation: as a leader, you need to design and guide complex collaborations, which you can do by using a set of ten practical skills. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

You may ask, what if I do not possess all ten of those skills? Well, that’s the heart of the matter: you are not expected to excel at each of those skills;<\/strong> your challenge as a manager is to manifest skills within your team or network, build the environment to combine them and create new solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Collaboration vs teamwork<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Understanding the difference between teamwork and collaboration<\/strong> is key to implementing Strategic Doing, so let\u2019s quickly review how these differ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teamwork is about team members aligning towards the same goal, while Collaboration is a process during which you leverage existing assets in your network to create new value.<\/strong>

Rather than defining roles on the team and you making decisions, when collaborating you will design and guide the collaboration process<\/a> through structured conversations. Leadership is then distributed across your team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To implement Strategic Doing and move from conversation to measurable outcomes, you will need more than conversation and the required ten skills you will need trust.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Strategic Doing enables people to form action\u2010oriented collaborations quickly, move them toward measurable outcomes, and make adjustments along the way. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n


The importance of conversation and trust<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Strategic Doing is based on the understanding that complex collaborations originate from conversations with an elemental structure and trajectory that happens in a safe environment for everyone involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversation in your team<\/a> or network is a critical point. Why? There are two main reasons: number one is that you have control <\/em>over how the conversation develops, and number two is that most of our knowledge is tacit, not explicit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a leader, you can design the conversation to bring out valuable, helpful knowledge and experience<\/strong> that your team or network already have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust is also key to collaborating meaningfully and leveraging existing assets. Trust will emerge with time, from stable patterns and a safe environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The 4 questions & 10 skills of strategic doing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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You can think of Strategic Doing as a constant loop of thinking and doing. Going back and forth as many times as needed, even on the same skills and questions, is a natural part of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Before you begin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We already mentioned how conversation and trust are crucial points in the process. Before you begin, these are the two skills you need to work on:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Establish a safe environment<\/strong> for deep, focused conversations; Somewhere everyone feels comfortable and where no external distractions interrupt the conversation.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Frame these conversations<\/strong> around an appreciative question.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n


What could we do?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once you have discussed the strategic outcome you want to achieve, think about actions that will help you move in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Identify hidden assets<\/strong> people are willing to share to create new opportunities.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Leverage<\/strong> and link these assets.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n


What should we do?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You already worked on what activities you COULD do; now it is time to focus on which of those activities makes sense to focus on.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Use the \u201cBig Easy<\/a>\u201d matrix<\/strong> to identify easy opportunities with big impacts.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Measure your progress<\/strong> and convert your \u201cBig Easy\u201d into an outcome with measurable characteristics.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n


What will we do?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Move from plan to action: define concrete, short-term steps you can take to move toward the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Define at least one Pathfinder project with guideposts.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Draft a short-term action plan<\/strong> with everyone taking a small step.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n


What’s our 30\/30<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Agree on when to hold the next conversation to discuss what you\u2019ve learned, adjust as necessary, and keep moving towards the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201d30\/30 meetings<\/a><\/strong>\u201d to gather data and adjust.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

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Promote<\/strong> your new collaboration habits.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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\n Together with Hutcheson, and Nilsen we have been sharing our experience with strategic problem solving with individuals and organisations around the world. Over the years, we have conducted workshops in 48 states and seven foreign countries. Several universities are now partnering with the Agile Lab to spread the discipline. <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n


All in all<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Strategic Doing is being applied in a wide range of industries to solve a wide range of complex challenges<\/strong>. Keep in mind that even if your organisation is not yet ready to implement Strategic Doing as a whole or it doesn\u2019t seem to be entirely a fit for you, there are still many opportunities where you can embrace these agile leadership skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019d like to dive deeper into Strategic Doing, check the Strategic Doing Institute <\/a>or Agile Strategy Lab<\/a> websites.
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\n Run your project with experts <\/h3>\n \n
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Engage a whole\u00a0team of talented software development engineers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n Dedicated IT team<\/span>\n \n <\/use>\n <\/svg> <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the early 70s, we\u2019ve seen constant change in strategy and leadership approaches. Change is needed to keep up with the speed and complexity of our evolving world and technological advancements. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":18678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1944],"tags":[70],"coauthors":[2060],"class_list":["post-21246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-management","tag-project-management"],"acf":{"reading-time":"","show-toc-sublists":false,"image":"","logo":"","button1":{"button1_type":"none","button":""},"button2":{"button2_type":"none","button":""},"person":{"person_photo":"","person_name":"","person_position":""}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21246"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33977,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21246\/revisions\/33977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21246"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.future-processing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=21246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}