Synopsis "Rational Strategy Execution: A Guide to the Metrics-Driven Firm"
This book ties together several business disciplines. It is a guide to the successful execution of strategy. It takes the reader from strategy formulation, to initiative selection, to project management, to process design and in doing so, ties all the disciplines together with common underpinnings and rules. Part I of the book begins by setting out some fundamental constructs and linkages that are used throughout the book. It highlights what the author identifies as the ten potential failure points of any firm's strategy. Part I concludes with the strategic structure which include three "pillars" of knowledge, technology and people that support the business processes of the firm. Part II deals with strategy formulation. Much of this part of the book is merely drawing together constructs from other sources. The author describes Porter's value chain and then expands on it and promises to do so even further in the rest of the book. He addresses the use and misuse of balanced scorecard and discusses the four basic types of strategy that a firm may employ. He concludes Part II with a discussion of risk and barriers to strategy execution. Part III, Strategy Execution, departs from other constructs and becomes the heart of what is unique about the book. In it, the author discusses ways to identify a strategic initiative and then to vet or select the initiative. The method for transforming a firm's strategy into Cartesian math constructs and then being able to mathematically evaluate a potential initiative and align it with the firm's strategy is unique to the book as is its method for building and proving the business case. The remainder of Part III is spent looking at metrics in all its forms, characteristics and types. The reader may, at first, feel the author beats metrics to death, but it becomes apparent, further into the book, how important metrics are to everything discussed. Part IV is devoted to project planning and execution. One of the real strengths of the book is its meticulous linkage among strategy, strategic initiative and project management. The author ties many of the constructs, like the structured business case, into project planning and estimating. His chapters on project elaboration and estimating are worth the cost of the book. He concludes part IV with a chapter on critical chain project management. Part V, the largest part of the book, is on building effective business processes. He makes sure the reader understands the three important constructs of system analysis and design: process, data and events, as well as how the pillars (people, knowledge, technology) affect process design. He walks the reader through event analysis and each phase and then spends some time on information and data modeling. He ties everything together with a chapter on validation, how you prove your model has "conceptual integrity," that it will work in real life. Part V concludes with a brief survey of physical design issues. This book is for any business executive who want a guide to strategy execution. They could use the book to guide their management team during the undertaking of major strategic initiatives in the firm. This is the only book that methodically ties together strategy, project management and business process design into a cohesive rigorous approach.
