Mindshift Forward

<< Part I Strategy level Plan at multiple levels Strategy: Having a strategy is more than just having a set of objectives collecting dust, possibly at some cloud unaccessible space, that no one minds looking twice. Strategic initiatives Are important to filter aligned from unaligned ideas. You should use them regularly to keep your aim towards the objective. The project you had planned might attack what you think will happen but not address exactly what you want to happen. If new ideas or initiatives come to you, in a product leadership position, and your vision and end goal is clear you might want to compare that objective with the new initiative and take that if it has a more likely to be right. Budget Target What we want to happen Strategic themes / Initiatives Forecast What we "think will happen" IS different than "want to happen". BE CAREFUL HERE Resource Allocation People and resources we need to make it happen Operat

For quite some time I've addressed the budget topic from different approaches.  I recently had the opportunity to read some things from Kenneth Rubin , who had a few things quite clear in that regard, but with a different approach, that I hope I rephrase and state here in the most truthful way I can to you, with a few drops of my perspective and experience on the matter. Traditional Budgeting "We need to define the yearly budget per cost center. Remember to be as precise as possible, you are going to be measured against that" You might realize that this process. Requires detailed up-front financial projections and business plans. Promotes greed for finite resources. Instills a use-it-this-year or lose-it-next-year mentality. Leads to utilization-based planning and execution. Fosters rigidity - Budgets are hard to change. Complicates things in a project-based environment where the projects touch many cost centers. Biases teams towards least-risky soluti