Engineering Strategy Guide — Communicating to technical and non-technical stakeholders for alignment and buy-in

Leveraging informal and formal communication structures

Table of contents

1. Recap of Engineering Strategy’s kernel and types
2. The method - Leveraging the informal communication first.
2.1. Create the network before you need it
2.2. Involve the right people before you decide
2.3. Pre-announce the announcement
2.4. Communicate the strategy that everyone knows already

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No Engineering Strategy is designed and executed in the vacuum. An Engineering Strategy addresses the high-stake business challenge from the engineering lenses.

That’s why it is always in collaboration with other disciplines/departments/roles such as product, business, operations, marketing, … Each strategy depends on your context, purpose, and situation at hand.

Therefore, communicating the Engineering Strategy to technical and non-technical is essential to increase the odds of success.

1. Recap of Engineering Strategy’s kernel and types

Let’s recap the Kernel of an Engineering Strategy.

• Context and Purpose: The moral imperative, why we do what we do. Which is the current situation at hand.

• Understanding: Help us to identify the main blockers, risks, and opportunities that could prevent us to overcome the high stake business challenge. It helps us to focus on the important aspect of the challenge without feeling overwhelmed with information.

• Direction: A guideline to help people understand where to focus.

• Coherent actions: A set of coherent actions to accomplish the direction. They are coherent to one another, and they add up instead of compete.

Plus, the two types of an Engineering Strategy:

• Deliberate strategy: Intentional and more formal, it assumes the future and defines what needs to be true. It helps to create alignment.

• Emergent strategy: The organization's response to unanticipated events. It

In this post, I focus on the Deliberate strategy.

For simplicity, the Deliberate strategy has 3 high-level phases.

• Pre: All the work needed before starting the formal strategy process. Informed by the learnings of the Emergent strategy.

• Meanwhile: The actual Deliberate strategy design phase.

• Post: The execution phase. Often overlapping with the Emergent strategy.

2. The method - Leveraging the informal communication first

The first thing I do to avoid formality is to reject existing formal communication structures, such as leadership meetings with structured agendas, team of teams meetings, and similar gatherings.

Those forums may have the expectation of knowing your stuff, and sometimes we don't leave space for brainstorming. It can feel like we don't have things under control. Or the pressure to end the meeting with a plan.

Not a healthy dynamic, but a common one. Preventing people to express their concerns, and adopt a resistance to the unknown behavior. Stick to the plan!

On the other hand, informal approaches, like: