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How to use Agendashift with the X-Matrix

I first blogged about my early thoughts on Strategy Deployment and Agendashift nearly two years ago after some early experiments with Mike Burrows’ approach. Since then I’ve learned more, become an Agendashift partner, and co-taught a couple of “Lean-Agile Strategy Days” with Mike in June and October last year. More recently I used some of the elements of Agendashift during an …

Measuring the X-Matrix

Dave Snowden recently posted a series of blog posts on A Sense of Direction, about the use of goals and targets with Cynefin. As the X-Matrix uses measures in two of its sections (Aspirations and Evidence) I found that useful in clarifying my thinking on how I generally approach those areas. Lets start by addressing Dave’s two primary concerns; the …

In the Lap of the Agile Gods

I’ve noticed a lot of conversation recently (mostly on Twitter) debating how prescriptive, or not, we should be when helping teams through an Agile Transformation (i.e. helping them use Agile approaches to be more Agile)? Do we tell teams exactly what to do initially, or allow them complete freedom to figure it out for themselves? Or something else? Worshipping False …

Facilitating an X-Matrix Workshop

I was asked recently for guidance on facilitating a workshop to populate an X-Matrix. My initial response was that I don’t have a fixed approach because its so contextual. It depends on who is in the room, what is already known or decided, what the existing approaches are, how much time we have etc. On reflection though, I realised that …

More on Leader-Leader and Autonomy-Alignment

I had some great feedback about my last post on Strategy Deployment and Leader-Leader from Mike Cottmeyer via Facebook, where he pointed out that my graph overlaying the Leader-Leader and Autonomy-Alignment models could be mis-interpreted. It could suggest that simply increasing alignment/clarity and autonomy/control would result in increased capability. That’s not the case, so I have revised the image to this …

Strategy Deployment and Leader-Leader

This is a continuation my series comparing Strategy Deployment and other approaches, with the intent of showing that there are may ways of approaching it and highlighting the common ground. Leader-Leader is the name David Marquet gives to a model of leadership in his book Turn the Ship Around, which tells the story of his experiences and learnings when he …

A Strategy Deployment Cadence

A Strategy Deployment cadence is the rhythm with which you plan, review and steer your organisational change work. When I blogged about cadence eight years ago I said that… “cadence is what gives a team a feeling of demarcation, progression, resolution or flow. A pattern which allows the team to know what they are doing and when it will be …

What is an X-Matrix?

An X-Matrix is a template used in organisational improvement that concisely visualises the alignment of an organisation’s True North, Aspirations, Strategies, Tactics and Evidence on a single piece of paper, usually A3 size (29.7 x 42.0cm, 11.69 x 16.53 inches). The main elements can be described as follows: True North – the orientation which informs what should be done. This …

Strategy Deployment and OKRs

This is the another post in my series comparing Strategy Deployment and other approaches, with the intent to show that there are may ways of approaching it and highlight the common ground. In May this year Dan North published a great post about applying OKRs – Objectives and Key Results. I’ve been aware of OKRs for some time, and we experimented …

Strategy Deployment and Playing to Win

“Playing to Win” is a book by A.G. Lafley and Roger L. Martin about “How Strategy Really Works” and it describes a model, the Strategic Choice Cascade, developed by the authors at P&G. This model leads to the following “five strategic questions that create and sustain lasting competitive advantage”: Have you defined winning, and are you crystal clear about your …