Agile OGSM: Fix the plane while flying

A strategic plan, like OGSM, is not a static model. It must evolve with the changing circumstances. Yes, on the one hand, OGSM is a proactive plan – but it is also a management tool that helps you monitor and respond to reality during implementation. You want to find a balance between ‘Just enough planning’ and then taking action: jump and do it. That’s Agile OGSM. You must fix the plane as you fly it!

Which brings us to a brief quiz about the invention of flying. Do you know this man?

His name is Samuel Langley, an American astronomer, and one of the first to design an airplane. He made very detailed, ingenious technical drawings standing at his drawing board. Why did he exert such efforts? His objective was to make a lot of money! Today, he’s known in the history books (Wikipedia) as the inventor of the ‘bolometer’. The what? A device for measuring the power of incident electromagnetic radiation by heating up a material with a temperature-dependent electrical resistance…

Now, how about these two gentlemen?

They’re the Wright brothers – who dreamed of flying a motorized aircraft. With that objective in mind, they developed a first design, and then they took off… Practice what you preach. They leaped into action … and tumbled to the ground … and learned valuable lessons … and improved their machine through trial and error. They literally ‘fixed the plane while flying’!?

What fuelled their ambition? They wanted everyone to be able to fly! Feel the difference in the Wright brothers’ objective and approach compared to that of Mr Langley? The result: the history books (Wikipedia) honour the Wright brothers as the inventors of the airplane.

Agile OGSM

All this applies to our OGSM plan as well. Be clear about your objective and build your plan using the ‘what-by-how’ approach, cascaded in every step. To make a strategic plan that really works, apply agile methodologies:?

• Lean (build – measure – learn – improve): Lean manufacturing is a production method aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers. Applied to your OGSM, it makes your strategic plan come alive and stay up-to-date – and therefore future-proof.
• Scrum (+ sprints): Scrum is an agile project management technique that provides a framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining products in a complex environment. To achieve your OGSM Goals, cut your priority projects (‘bears’ as we call them at Business Markers) into pieces to ensure concrete doable action at every level.
• Kanban: Kanban is a workflow management method for defining, managing and improving services that deliver knowledge work. The OGSM strategic plan on one page template, helps you visualize your work, maximize efficiency, and improve continuously.

Applying these agile methodologies to your OGSM strategic plan enables you to make decisions faster, make adjustments as you go, and reduce the effects of overestimation, underestimation, and building further on incorrect assumptions.

Agile OGSM creates structure in a volatile and uncertain environment. It creates simplicity in complexity, focus (when hunting for bears, don't get distracted by picking up chicken eggs), and a sense of urgency in daily action. Because agility needs stability: during inevitable change and headwinds, the long-term objective provides direction. It enables you to adapt your day-to-day actions in order to achieve your bigger Goals.

Agile OGSM avoids annualised and quarterly thinking and purely theoretical planning – a source of low motivation for immediate action in many organisations.

By applying agile OGSM, you will achieve results towards your long-term goal more quickly and you’ll stimulate more team ownership, responsibility and motivation to act now. Your company culture will be energized, and your people will have a can-do attitude.

Putting strategic plans into action is a journey

With the Agile OGSM methodology, you can make a strategic plan that literally works. It's a journey that you make together, with audacity and trial and error, but with your eyes on the prize!

Do you have questions about Agile OGSM? Or would you like advice about turning your strategic plan into an Agile OGSM? Then, give us a call today!

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Author: Ides Ticket, Founder of Business Markers in Belgium, Germany and Netherlands. Worked at P&G, Coca-Cola and MTV Networks. Member of several boards. Gadget lover, inspirator and challenger, strategist, husband, father of Arne and Kaat.?

Author: Bram Vaerewyck, Partner of Business Markers. Worked at Duvel Moortgat, Leonidas and Allen & Overy. Co-founder of All Maritime Solutions cvba. Polyglot, loves kite-surfing and snowboarding, (export) strategist and father of three teenage daughters.