It’s an annoying question. You want to get going with your business and here’s your IT partner asking these fluffy questions. But if you’re going to be successful, you need to know what business you are in.
Before going further, I want to review the Powell Doctrine. (Here is the original for your reference). Why Powell? Because business is war and we need to learn from one of the best. The Powell Doctrine, interpreted (by me) for business:
- What problem does your business solve? Is it a problem worth devoting several years of your life to?
- Do we have a clear attainable objective?
- Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
- Are there other, less painful, ways of solving the problem?
- Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
- Have the consequences of the business been fully considered? Who will benefit from it — are they worth benefiting? Who will be hurt by the business?
And now to the main point of this post. Business involves choices. If you’re unclear about your core business,
- How will you decide who to compete with and who to cooperate with?
- When you are cooperating, is it capitulation or is it two parties joining together to achieve a common purpose?
- What will you buy and what will you build? Obviously, you want to build what is the core value of your business. You want to buy what is not core.
- If you’re going to raise money, and for your own purpose too, you will need to know what your market share is. Knowing market share involves knowing who to include and who to exclude when doing that measurement.
- Can you practically assure your stakeholders — investors, customers, yourself, your family — that you can deliver? Recall the other Powell Doctrine: Overwhelming Force in pursuit of your core mission†.
- Will the people your business benefits know what they will get for their money and what they won’t? Will they give it their support? Their love? Their money?
The real point is, a business is not an endless series of pragmatic decisions. You have to know why you’re doing it and what your business stands for.
† Thanks to Larry Grumer for his comment reminding me of this point.
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3 responses so far ↓
Larry Grumer // June 8, 2009 at 9:52 am
J…Well done! This brings the appropriate mindset to the battle!
As Powell and Casper Weinberger looked inside their own heads as military leaders, and assessed the “pulse” of the action so should entrepreneurs thoroughly do the same as business leaders. Getting it partially right is not option on this “New Market Reality”.
An added key point to emphasize might be “can we unequivocally win for stakeholders?”; (ourselves, team, investors, vendors, suppliers, collaborators).
LCG 8 June ’09
Ravi // July 2, 2009 at 9:33 am
Good One J. Well connected.
Thom Mitchell // September 24, 2009 at 10:51 am
J – great post. Your modified Powell Doctrine neatly sums up something that too many business people and too many technologists forget. I also made a similar, though less eloquent observation on my blog.
http://www.thommitchell.com/2009/09/02/its-about-the-business-not-about-the-technology/
I’ll be borrowing this in the future. Thanks,