Harvard Business School Professor Jim Haskett has posed a thoughtful set of questions on his blog relevant to how we view strategy execution in the Stanford Advanced Project Management (SAPM) program:

1. If your organization’s performance (operating income) = 100%, roughly what percentage is accounted for by the quality of the organization’s strategy (clients we target; products, services and results we offer; the way we organize and compensate people, etc.) vs. the quality of the organization’s execution of its strategy (the quality of our people, work, processes, decisions, etc.)?
2. If your organization’s strategy = 100%, roughly what proportion of its effectiveness is dependent upon and accounted for by the organization’s culture (widely-shared values, beliefs, behaviors, rites and rituals, etc.)?
3. If the execution of your organization’s strategy = 100%, roughly what proportion of its effectiveness is dependent upon and accounted for by the organization’s culture?

His columns inspire a spirited and educational set of responses join in and share your perspectives.

We have recently completed working with a wide variety of large global firms on designing & planning unique complex global programs.  Though each is uniquely different, there are patterns and threads that are the same.  These ten questions provide a quick way of assessing how well such programs are being designed , planned, and managed:

1. Who’s in charge and serves as the overall executive leader of the program?
2. Is she 100% dedicated fully to the program?  Anything less is a recipe for disaster.
3. Does the leader have full responsibility and authority to deliver the desired results of the program?
   
4. Who is the sponsor? Who has the money and provides a clear escalation path for the program executive?
5. Are the boundaries (scope) of the program well-developed and understood by ALL on the team?
   
6. Are key program parameters in writing and actually known by all team members?
7. Are meetings designed and managed to reflect differences in culture, time zones, and work styles across the globe?
8. Do schedules and timelines reflect reality of what is achievable given available resources and market conditions?
9. Do you routinely assess the risks to successfully delivering the program and make adjustments for prevention and contingency measures as needed?
10. Are you learning–do you conduct pre-mortems, lessons learned sessions, or after-action reviews periodically rather than only at the end of the program?

TED Blog: Ocean hope at Mission Blue: A collaboration experiment comes good.

Read about this fascinating organizing for the global ocean-Mission Blue.  The long post is worth the time for the subject but also for an inner view of how to structure people for actions–applicable in many realms, not just the ocean.  TED continues to evolve and grow in its impact–any leader and manager will benefit from using their wide variety of downloadable presentations. See the spreadsheet of over 600 talks here.

Today’s Wall Street Journal has insightful article comparing two airlines experience with installing the same new software–read and learn.

How Two Airlines Switched to New Software – WSJ.com.

Few things in the airline business are more daunting than upgrading to a new reservations system. Do it well and customers are none the wiser; mess it up and a carrier risks losing customers and tarnishing its brand.

Discount carriers JetBlue Airways Corp. and WestJet Airlines Ltd. both switched reservations systems in the past few months. The differing outcomes are a reminder of how the implementation of new technology can be just as crucial as the technology itself.

Despite months of planning, when WestJet flipped the switch on its new system its Web site crashed repeatedly and its call center was overwhelmed. It took months to resolve all the issues. JetBlue, which later upgraded to the same software, smoothed its transition by building a backup Web site and hiring 500 temporary call-center workers….