Strategy
Understand and rethink.
You end up with: the problem named precisely, what is feeding it, and a starting point the organisation believes in.
How We Think
Before looking for answers, we look to understand.
We do not have a methodology to sell. We have a way of looking, and it is that which decides where we begin.
Understand
Where do you start to understand a problem?
We start with what has not been said yet.
Every organisation has two versions of itself: the one that is written down and the one that happens every day. Documents describe the first. People live the second.
The distance between the two is almost always where the problem is taking shape. That is where we come in.
Question
What if the request already carries the wrong diagnosis inside it?
We question whether what is being asked for is what is really needed.
A well-framed request already contains a hypothesis about the cause. Accepting it without examination means inheriting someone else’s diagnosis.
What if the problem you are trying to solve is not the real problem?
We listen to what we are told. We observe what actually happens.
Observe
Is listening to the team enough to understand what is going on?
Listening is essential, but it is not enough. What a team describes in a meeting is what it is able to articulate; what it does on a Tuesday at eleven in the morning is what the organisation actually is.
Where is an organisation’s problem really located?
A problem rarely begins where it shows up.
Technology
Where does technology actually add value?
We do not start with technology. We start with the problem.
None of these words is an answer until there is a question.
The best technology is not the most advanced. It is the one that solves the problem. Sometimes the honest conclusion is that no technology is needed at all.
The method, applied
What does this look like in a real situation?
Something is not working, but I cannot tell exactly what.
All the way
What happens once the strategy is decided?
We do not stop at strategy.
Transformation
Simplify and unblock.
You end up with: a path in stages and the reasoning behind it. What comes first because it unblocks the rest, and what should not be done at all.
Execution
Build and implement.
You end up with: the change working day to day, and a team able to keep it after we leave.
Bring us a problem you cannot yet name.
