STEP 04 · SEVEN STEPS
Create strategy
20 April 202612 min read
Most strategies are wish lists. A real strategy names what you'll do — and, more importantly, what you won't.
A strategy is a choice between futures. If every option in your plan looks good, you don't have a strategy yet — you have a wish list. The discomfort of leaving options on the table is how you know the work is real.
The one-page test
A working strategy fits on one page. One page forces the team to choose the three moves that carry the most weight — and to drop the ones that merely sound nice.
- The outcome you're betting on (one sentence).
- The user you're betting on (specific, named).
- The three moves that would make it real (verbs, not nouns).
- What you're deliberately not doing, and for how long.
"If the strategy doesn't name something it refuses to do, it isn't yet a strategy."