Writing the strategy down
A short written engineering strategy covering the diagnosis of the current situation, the policies that follow, the concrete actions and what it is not doing. It is reviewed on a cadence and revised when the signals say so, whatever the calendar says.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
Any organisation whose strategy exists only in conversation; the start of every planning cycle.
Where it stops working
If the choices in it were never made, the document is no strategy. Writing it down tests the strategy; the page is not the product.
Where the standard uses it
- SV-1Engineering strategyTranslating business goals into technical direction, and writing it down.
Sources
- Will Larson. The Engineering Executive's Primer: Impactful Technical Leadership. O'Reilly Media, 2024. In the bibliography
Used alongside it
- Outcome versus output practice
- Strategy, vision, and roadmap practice
- The connecting thesis practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Writing the strategy down. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.writing-the-strategy-down). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/writing-the-strategy-down