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Empowerment without Clarity Is Chaos

The companies we work with at Tanzu by Broadcom are constantly looking for better, faster ways of developing and releasing quality software. But digital transformation means fundamentally changing the way you do business, a process that can be derailed by any number of obstacles. In his recent video series, my colleague Michael Coté identifies 14 reasons why it’s hard to change development practices in large organizations. In this companion series of blog articles, we’re exploring each of those topics in more depth, providing advice on how you can address them in your business.

Today, let’s look at reason no. 10: Empowerment without clarity is chaos.

Strategy charades

Why do so many corporate visions or strategies give vague hand-waving gestures toward success, like bland glimpses to the future from a cheap fortune cookie? It’s not unusual for a company to want to be “best in class” or promise to “listen to customers,” but what does that actually mean? Are there companies out there that aim to be mediocre or purposefully ignore their customers? I’m sure it can feel that way sometimes.

The problem with this wishy-washy word soup is that it makes it very difficult for anyone in the company to know what to aim for. Like a game of strategy charades, everyone will take their best guess, which might be wildly different from what was initially intended.

Empowering teams without giving sufficient guidance on direction will quickly lead to chaos. Unlike many other industries, software doesn’t have many constraints—with sufficient time and resources, we can build software systems to achieve almost any task. It is vital that we be intentional in the direction we set, orientating teams toward a common goal.

Vague to vision

The purpose of a company strategy is to provide a clear direction and framework for achieving the organization’s long-term goals and objectives. A well-defined strategy helps align the efforts of different teams and departments, facilitates decision making, and guides resource allocation. It provides a sense of purpose, sets priorities, and defines the competitive advantage of the company.

When setting a strategy, it must:

  • Relate to the purpose and goals of the organization
  • Provide a sense of purpose that encourages teams to work together toward a common goal
  • Be sufficiently specific that it aids individuals in their day-to-day decision making

Taking the example of a pharmaceutical company, rather than a vague statement about “helping our customers,” a better statement could be “make it easier for customers to look after their health.” In manufacturing, that could be interpreted as the need for longer-lasting medicine so that the customers can take pills less frequently. As a developer, perhaps it’s creating an application that lets customers order repeat prescriptions and get notifications when they’re ready for collection. The point is that a relatively simple change can empower people to make informed decisions about the right thing to do. “Lead the industry in customer well-being” doesn’t direct people as well. Besides, again, would the opposite of that ever be the vision and strategy for any company?

Mess to success

A framework that I regularly use when helping organizations define their digital transformation strategy is OGSM, which stands for objectives, goals, strategies, and measures. The OGSM framework is a strategic planning tool that provides a structured approach to setting strategic direction and ensuring clear alignment throughout the organization:

  • Objectives are high-level statements that define the desired long-term outcomes an organization aims to achieve. They provide a clear vision of what the organization wants to accomplish.
  • Goals are more specific, measurable targets that support the objectives. They are more detailed than objectives and provide a roadmap for achieving the desired outcomes. Goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
  • Strategies are the broad approaches or plans that organizations develop to achieve their goals and objectives. They outline the actions and initiatives that need to be taken to move toward the desired outcomes.
  • Measures are the quantifiable indicators or metrics used to assess progress and track performance toward the goals and objectives. They provide a way to monitor the effectiveness of strategies and determine whether the desired outcomes are being achieved.

To revisit our example of a pharmaceutical company, we might set the following:

  • Objective
    • Make it easier for customers to look after their health
  • Goals
    • Reduce the quantity of pills a customer requires by 25 percent
    • Enable customers to renew prescriptions online by (date)
    • Reduce the collection time for medicines by 40 percent
    • Build customer trust by offering a secure service, as verified by external auditors
  • Strategies
    • Review and optimize dosages to reduce the number of pills each customer requires
    • Develop an online system to allow customers to manage prescriptions
    • Provide notifications and reminders that a prescription is ready for collection
    • Use a modern, cloud native architecture that enables quick deployment of security fixes
  • Measures
    • Average number of pills consumed by customers
    • Number of registered, active users of the online service
    • The 95th percentile of days taken for customers to collect prescriptions
    • Time taken between release of new software versions and them being installed

In this example, we’ve chosen an objective that directly relates to our business and identified some tangible (SMART) goals that we would like to achieve. We would traditionally then look for ideas on how we might achieve that goal and how we would measure progress toward our goal. Most importantly, we’re giving a clear description of what the company wants to achieve, with a level of detail that enables teams to make decisions, without being overly prescriptive about how the strategies should be implemented.

One key aspect of the OGSM framework is the concept of an “outcome cascade.” The outputs from each layer of management can be communicated to the next, allowing for a progressively more detailed view of what is required. It helps create a structured and cohesive approach to strategic planning and execution throughout the organization.

Summary

Empowering teams without sufficient clarity on the objectives of the organization leads to chaos. An organization must define its intent with sufficient detail to align the efforts of different teams, facilitate day-to-day decision making, and provide a sense of purpose.

The OGSM framework helps organizations effectively plan their strategies, set clear goals, track progress, and align their efforts toward achieving desired outcomes. The framework can be used sequentially throughout an organization to provide an outcome cascade that provides contextualized and increasingly specific guidance.

Read about other common digital transformation bottlenecks we’ve encountered and how to overcome them:

Need help? Tanzu Labs has partnered with countless organizations across the globe to deliver applications and features to production faster. Tanzu Labs offers bespoke consulting services to help organizations build new or modernize existing applications, ensuring that best practices are transferred to customer teams along the way.  Learn more about Tanzu Labs’ application services.

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