Body of Knowledge · Glossary
Engineering strategy
The written translation of business goals into technical direction. It contains a diagnosis, a set of choices that includes what will not be done, and the reasoning. It is reviewed against reality and revised when signals call for it, not because the calendar does.
Where the standard develops it
- SV-1Engineering strategyTranslating business goals into technical direction, and writing it down.
Related terms
- Bottom-up roadmap
- A department "strategy" assembled from team wish lists, with no connecting thesis.
- Connecting thesis
- The statement of why these teams do these things, tying several teams' work to a few department-level outcomes.
- Outcome versus output
- Framing work as the change wanted in the world instead of the thing to be built.
- Structure follows strategy
- Changes in strategy require changes in structure, and structures that outlive the strategy that produced them become the obstacle to the next one.
Cite this definition
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Engineering strategy. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, GLO.engineering-strategy). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/glossary/engineering-strategy