Strong strategy alone doesn’t produce desired outcomes – commentary on Steve job’s view of this

From my experience as a product manager I learned that strategy without properly scoped execution capabilities will jeopardize the ability to produce desired outcomes. I also hypothesize that some people assume that strong strategies never require high implementation costs which may be why some entities default to outsourcing implementation with less competent teams. This outsourcing effort may sometimes work but can also fail if the implementation of the strategy necessitates highly competent teams. For example, a team can have the winningest coach in a league’s history but the coach can only do so much if he finds that the team can’t perform to the standard that he needs them to play at to win.

Moreover, because certainty seems non-existent, a strategy created today may have to change tomorrow. Those who don’t anticipate the possibility of their strategy changing may further jeopardize their ability to produce desired outcomes. The uncertainty of life may also require the initially desired outcomes to change as well.

I’ve never seen a product roadmap last longer than 6 months before diverging significantly from the plan. The technology & competitive landscape moves so fast that user expectations change and you have to adapt.

Only monopolies have the luxury of unchanging multi-year tech plans
— Dare Obasanjo🐀 (@Carnage4Life) September 13, 2022

Dare used to be a group–may still be–a group program manager at Microsoft.

All this said, I think running a business or service requires a continuous analysis of both the execution and strategy which are components some people and companies overlook and perhaps why most businesses fail.

Data from the BLS shows that approximately 20% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years, and 65% during the first 10 years. Only 25% of new businesses make it to 15 years or more. These statistics haven’t changed much over time, and have been fairly consistent since the 1990s.
Top 6 reasons why businesses fail

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