Good Strategy, Bad Strategy
The author examines the concepts of good strategy (a succinct description of a situation or problem at hand, followed by directions for action in order to solve the problem or use the situation by using strengths, not exposing weaknesses and concentrating resources in order to successfully emerge at the other end), bad strategy (not "no strategy" or "strategy that does not work", but rather the general listing of desirable outcomes and objectives without focus, concentration or indication on how to achieve those or even analysis of the situation at hand, but padded with fluffy language and lofty "concepts"). The book provides an in-depth description of both concepts and a number of examples and case studies for both.
Stats for nerds
37recommend
55mentions
46people
2011–2026years
76% recommend24% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I should write a lot more, but the two paths I see are: B.O.O. and Good Strategy/Bad Strategy.
B.O.O.: Background, Objective, Overview. Basically, a history lesson for how you got here, an objective for what you want to fix/change, and an overview of how you'll implement that change.
Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: An amazing book, but the organization is similar to boo. Problem Diagnosis, Guidelines/Assumptions/Requirements, and Actions.
I find BOO is better for targeted design documents in a google-like culture where you should write up a design document for almost any architecture change. The Good Strategy/Bad Strategy method scales pretty amazingly up to almost anything, but you need to be a much more experienced author to get things to fit it.
- One of the major contributing factors to success was multiple overlapping design teams and outsourced chip fabs. That allowed Nvidia to deliver a cycle time of six months instead of the 18 month cycles of their competition. While one team was delivering, another would be designing. It allowed Nvidia to lap the competition over and over again.
There was a chapter on this in Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Rumelt that was pretty good.
- Star with why and leaders eat last, both by Simon Sinek.
Good strategy, Bad strategy, by Rumelt is a classic on business strategy.
The books from https://www.tablegroup.com/
- I assume you're not interested in hearing the obvious ones (zero to one, lean startup, etc., etc.) so I'll recommend two.
At the early stages when you're defining your strategy? "Good strategy/bad strategy" by Richard P. Rumelt. "Strategy" is thrown around a whole lot in business, often by somebody who is talking about a goal, as opposed to how to reach it. This book can get a little repetitive but the overarching teachings are valuable and will serve you well throughout your entrepreneurship journey.
After the startup phase (growth/acquisition)? I recommend "The messy middle" by Scott Belsky.
- Steve Blank's blog (not a book, I know) + The Startup Owners Manual also by Steve Blank.
Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen.
The two helped me understand what it meant to 'get out of the building'.
7 Powers + Good Strategy Bad Strategy helped me think long term about the business model and evolution of the company.
- - The Mom Test
- 4 Steps to the Epiphany
- The Personal MBA (Josh Kaufman)
- Lean Analytics
- Good Strategy Bad Strategy
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