Strategy for software Dummies – part 14

The title for this series of posts is inspired by the extensive series of instructional/reference books, which serve as non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered, or for readers who need a solid brush up.  The title doesn’t imply that software CEO’s are Dummies; only that there is a need for a new type of “strategy framework” that produces more than fluff and which can be completed in a very short time.

A recap from post #13.

The ABC company is an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) planning to go global. They have asked a ValuePerform consultant to help them define an international Go-To-Market plan.  The ValuePerform consultant wants to know the current position of the ABC company before any work on future strategies commences.

So far the management team of the ABC company has been through a number of exercises revealing that each member of the team has very different perceptions in areas such as the sources of growth, the nature of the Customer Value Proposition, the market situation, which management areas are important and which are not and how the management team is actually performing on 15 critical management areas.

In this post we have reached the stage where the ABC Company management team are to set the priorities to get the change process started. The change process is described in the previous 13 posts.  Links to these post are listed at the end of this post.

The Action plan

Based on a common understanding of the strategic direction of the ABC Company and with the gap analysis in front of them the ABC management now defines the following action plan:

The Action Plan

The management team adjourned the workshop each with a set of action items to attend to, but also with a good feeling of being aligned and with a common understanding of the situation and a common agenda to follow.

A happy ending

The ValuePerform consultant was originally called in to assist on the development of an international go-to-market plan. This activity was postponed a year.  However everybody agreed that this was the best solution for the company. A solution, which was credited to the ValuePerform consultant and his persisting on understanding the situation before jumping to action. The CEO asked the ValuePerform consultant to assist with the strategy process.

About the Strategy for software Dummies series

The “Strategy for software Dummies” series of blog posts have been written based on the experiences TBK Consult have been making with using ValuePerform. Obviously not all clients are prepared to take out 2 days to review the strategic direction of their company and the alignment status of the management team.

The ABC Company was receptive to the idea for four major reasons:

1. Several new management team members had been added over the last year
2. The company was about to launch a new product and knew this would cause the market to react somehow
3. The company saw increasing competitive pressure
4. The internationalization project would be a major investment and introduce increased uncertainty

The ABC company is obviously a construction, but all elements of the case are based on real life scenarios.

Previous posts in this series:

Post #1: Strategy? – oh no, not again!
Post #2: Introducing ValuePerform – a lean approach for strategy analysis and alignment
Post #3: The 6 sources for financial growth
Post #4: Why do management teams disagree?
Post #5: Getting the priorities in place
Post #6: The Customer Value Proposition
Post #7: The Customer Value Proposition TODAY
Post #8: The Customer Value Proposition in the FUTURE
Post #9: The Market Situation
Post #10: ValuePerform and the 15 Management Areas
Post #11: What is important and what is not?
Post #12: How are we performing?
Post #13: Identifying the important and the urgent issues
Post #14: The Action Plan
Post #15: Why does misalignment occur?
Post #16: The price of management misalignment
Post #17: Avoiding invisible or suppressed misalignment
Post#18: The cost/benefit ratio of ensuring alignment