End-to-End Strategy Execution

Despite technological and methodological advancements, strategy execution failure remains alarmingly common. Most projects fail outright or face significant challenges – a statistic that has remained consistent for more than two decades. While 80% of business leaders believe their companies excel at crafting strategy, only 44% believe their organizations can achieve their strategic goals. Nine out of ten leaders admit their execution failures have resulted in missed market opportunities. These initiatives that fell short of expectations and ROI have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars.

Organizations continue this cycle of failure by repeatedly investing in new methodologies, third-party software, systems integrators, or "silver bullet" technologies, expecting different results. This suggests a fundamental abdication of ownership and responsibility for effective strategy execution. Too many organizations fall into the trap of blind loyalty to specific methodologies, sometimes abandoning proven practices and even strategic planning itself. While various methodologies offer valuable elements, leadership must maintain intellectual oversight rather than delegating accountability to third parties with limited stake in long-term success.

End-to-End Strategy Execution: From Inception Through Solution Deployment presents a framework for change to break this cycle of failure. This framework is effective because it is methodology agnostic but not methodology illiterate. The approach taken in this book incorporates valuable elements from various approaches while maintaining a cohesive structure that connects strategy formulation through solution deployment.

The end-to-end strategy execution framework provides an actionable roadmap covering the following:

• Strategy formulation
• Impact assessment
• Business and IT architecture design
• Initiative scoping, prioritization
• Design-driven solution deployment

Unlike previous frameworks claiming to be "end-to-end," the approach defined in this book incorporates the rigor and integration capabilities needed to deliver on its promise, aligning best practices and technologies to streamline every action from strategy through implementation.

Because the framework addresses every aspect of strategy execution, this book is a must-read for everyone involved in strategy formulation, impact analysis, architecture and design, initiative management, and deployment. It enables all strategic stakeholders and contributors to understand the scope and extent of their responsibilities as well as the tasks required to deliver any strategic solution on time and within budget.

Charles F. Bowman, a Managing Partner of Polygon Partners, LLC, has over 40 years of experience developing large-scale software systems and has served as Enterprise Architect for numerous clients. Mr. Bowman is a popular speaker who has lectured throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland, and Germany. Additionally, as an Adjunct Lecturer for St. Thomas Aquinas College, St. John’s University, and the City University of New York, he has taught undergraduate and graduate classes in a wide range of subjects, including Algorithms and Data Structures, Database Design, Linear Algebra, and Compiler Construction.

William M. Ulrich is President of Tactical Strategy Group and Cofounder of Business Architecture Associates. Mr. Ulrich is a thought leader in strategy execution, business and IT transformation, and business architecture. His work in the transformation field dates back more than four decades to when he served as Director of Reengineering Strategies at KPMG’s Advance Technology group. As a co-founder of the Business Architecture Guild®, Mr. Ulrich was a leading voice in formalizing what is now considered the de facto approach to defining and leveraging business architecture for strategy execution. He has authored and coauthored multiple books and papers on business and IT transformation.