Ambition is a double-edged sword, yet without ambition digital strategy becomes purposeless. No heroine or hero of legend ever set out on their quest against a neat checklist, making sure to keep each point SMART. As the line between heroic bravery and foolish recklessness is fine, as is the measure of ambition.
A journey without a destination gets nowhere fast, the same is true of a digital strategy without ambition, aims and goals. The nature of these is not solely in duration as long-term action can apply equally to each, rather it is a measure of vision and thought that allows each to co-operate with the other to deliver the digital strategy.
big words, big thoughts
Ambition is a word that for its grandiose nature is perhaps underused in a discipline that is not known for its understatement. If a project is complex enough to require a digital strategy, then ambition should be the expression and vision that shapes its success. Ambition is not without its pitfalls and dangers, or its glory:
“Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied.” – Nicolo Machiavelli
“Ambition is a fine thing” – Plato
The edge of ambition is tempered by the anchors of aims and the weight of expected goals. The objective is balanced by the subjective, and neither aims nor goals should constrain ambition. Underpinned by the Aristotelian viewpoint of the healthy versus the unhealthy, the transposition into “healthy” ambition within digital strategy is not an easy line to draw.
ambition in isolation
Ambition in digital strategy cannot live in a digital wilderness but must connect with the ongoing ambition of the company, brand, and/or group. To many that digital strategy, and the ambitions thereof, should be connected, is seemingly obvious. Too often however, lack of understanding generates a disconnect and digital is seen as a separate entity rather than where it operates at its best connecting all parts together.
rating ambition
Digital Strategy must make a difference, and that difference must be measured and rated. It does not follow the simple delineation of “healthy” or “unhealthy”, such definitions are impossible to apply over the varied nature of projects. Ambition for a digital strategy can be rated against the background and nature of a project through the following hierarchy:
- Apparent: is the ambition focused on the project
- Considered : is the ambition apparent and reflective of wider opportunities within the domain
- Visionary : is the ambition considered and enables the growth of the domain and the opportunities available
- Obsessive: is the ambition visionary to the point of exclusion of probability if not possibility
The ambition of any digital strategy must be Apparent, less than apparent and failure is set from the beginning. For most ambition Considered is the likely outcome, which is far from poor; not all projects have to be world changing, and to perform well within the given domain is a good outcome. Visionary ambition does not guarantee visionary results, attempting a visionary ambition without appropriate resources is unlikely to succeed. In the realms of fairy tales and madness is ambition that is Obsessive, outside of any probable possibility of attainment, failure is guaranteed.
okay Goldilocks?
Setting an ambition that is neither too ‘hot’ nor too ‘cold’ requires context of the project and the domain in which the project is to either reside or align. It is again in stories that the suitability of our ambition against these is best related to:
- is our protagonist (project), challenged?
- where does our protagonist fit into their world (domain)?
- why does our story, protagonist, and world demand change?
- how does our protagonist change the world?
Against the above all must be questioned: “Does this feel right?”, and for extra credit is this just ‘hot’ enough to be challenging. For a structured approach ambition alone is not enough, it must be tempered by aims and goals.
what does ambition look like?
The ambition of a digital strategy needs to be constantly referred to; it must be:
- clear
- concise
- aspirational
It is not a mantra; it is not an exercise in buzzword bingo; it is the summary of the story of the ambition. Written down it is not too far from the dreaded mission statement and if unsure should be referred to ensure that the strategy is on track.
ambition into aims
“The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!” – Brain
Two cartoon mice are an unlikely place in which to find the inspiration behind ambition, let alone taking over the world. The idea that any worthwhile ambition could be achieved in one step is a concept not too far removed from the fantasy of comics. Ambition must be broken down into manageable tranches of aims, which later can be subdivided into goals.
aiming true
Aims should be generic rather than specific during planning, so as not to overload with detail. The finer points behind the aims of a digital strategy will be defined by the goals and refined by the process until a level of granularity is reached that brooks no misunderstanding. Concentrating on specific aims from the outset runs the risk of missing potential opportunities and approaches of a digital strategy. Initial limitations generally consist of conflict of interest with existing business practices and / or outlets, background, and budget. Far from limitation being negative it can provide additional focus for later iterations of digital strategy:
- if not now, when?
- if not us, who?
- if not this, what?
Working with these aims and their limitations, digital consultants can start to build clear strategies and answer the ambition.
outlining aims
To fully understand and outline aims against an ambition for a digital strategy they must be classified, positioned, and modelled.
Classification adheres to the constructs of digital strategy:
- what does digital do differently to achieve the ambition?
- what should digital disrupt to achieve the ambition?
Consider the four main groups of digital marketing strategy:
- consumer awareness and demand creation
- direct consumer drive to retail and purchase
- education and incentive within the retail space
- process improvement through streamlined communications
In classification it is not enough to build aims into ambition with no consideration for the digital domain in which these will be executed. To do so will create disconnected strata in the approach that whilst they may be parallel in alignment, they are not contiguous. Aims must be positioned with full awareness of the nature and ethos of current technology and open to the opportunities of future technology, they must make a difference, they must be prepared to disrupt.
For aims to effectively answer ambition they must be positioned. An all at once approach may be desirable for those without patience, but it is rarely successful, and is certainly not efficient. The positioning of aims breaks down into the following:
-
Focus: Is the aim broad and may it be achieved in many ways, or direct with a narrow scope?
The broader the focus the greater the potential freedom in execution, but also the harder to pin down. -
Complexity: Is the aim multi-stepped and multi-faceted, how much processing is required to complete?
Complexity must not be confined to the aim looking outward, it needs to take into account third parties and their engagement with the aim. -
Duration: Is the aim short-term or long-term, how does it compare with the other aims?
Duration cannot be smaller than the likely feasible time to execute but must strive to not exceed the time allotted to achieve the ambition.
Modelling aims combines their classification and position, it enables the detection of overlapping aims, outlying aims and false aims. To model aims the following must be considered:
- Abstraction: Are the essential elements of the aim clear in how they build to ambition, different to other aims and open to adoption through multiple routes?
- Encapsulation: Is the aim clear enough to capture all sub-elements required to achieve completion?
- Grouping: How does the aim work with other aims, can it be grouped with other aims to reduce areas of focus?
- Relation: How does the aim co-operate with other aims to build to ambition, are there dependencies, are there time constraints?
- Size: Is an aim so large in focus, complexity, or duration as to warrant being an ambition all by itself, or is it so small by the same criteria to become a goal of another aim?
- Lifespan: Does this aim die or persist with differing levels of focus?
The result of modelling is a clear approach to the aims, where they are most important, when they are most import and how they are most important. Like building blocks aims should fit together to deliver on the ambition and answer the question: “Will this achieve my ambition?”
what do aims look like?
There are two distinct views required to appreciate aims in their overview: their positioning and their modelling. Each is designed to give an overview of what is trying to be achieved, the positioning delivers a management/client perspective, the modelling delivers a procedural perspective. Visualisation is not an exercise in breaking monotony, the same as stories, it briefly can highlight potential issues before they become problematic.
data
To create the overviews is in easiest to compile the salient points of each aim into a single collection.
| Reference | Aim | Focus | Complexity | Duration | Grouping | Dependency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | aim one | narrow | difficult | short | B, E | |
| B | aim two | broad | moderate | long | A, E | |
| C | aim three | narrow | difficult | long | D | |
| D | aim four | broad | easy | short | C | |
| E | aim five | balanced | easy | medium | A, B | A |
| F | aim six | broad | moderate | short | A |
The underlying data is as follows:
- Reference: To save typing in later
- Aim: A concise one sentence description
- Focus: The confidence in the possible ways to achieve the aim
- Complexity: The level and difficulty of engagement required to complete the aim
- Duration: Within and without the cycle the expected term
positioning
The management/client perspective provided by the positioning view is a snapshot that encompasses all the aims and enables quick interpretation.
| Complexity/Duration | Short Term | Medium Term | Long Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | aim four | ||
| moderate | aim six | aim five | aim two |
| difficult | aim one | aim three |
Reading the aims in this format should be straightforward with the X and Y axis being obvious and the areas of focus that are broad highlighted for consideration to see if they can be further defined and narrowed. Immediately the above table shows:
- little is easy, but with effort 50% of the aims can be reached within a short time frame
- after the initial 50% of aims the aims move into a longer term and will require continual monitoring if not effort to attain these
- half of the stated aims are broad and may require further direction to either narrow the aims or ensure that further research dictates the best possible route
- one third of the aims are long term, these may take multiple cycles and potentially changes in direction of the digital strategy
modelling
The procedural model view is primarily internal and could look something like the following:
Within this view the size of the aim is representative of effort which in turn is comprised of the complexity and duration. The dependencies are apparent as is the modularity of groups. Immediately the diagram shows:
- the launch group requires by far the most effort
- aim A is not only one of the largest to achieve in terms of effort, it also is a dependency for other aims and requires the greatest focus
- aims grouped under advocacy are aside from the others and depending on how they form in the strategy may be able to split into their own area of focus
- launch being the largest group is a potential blocker for movement on the sign-up group, is there any mitigation?
jumping to goals
Procedurally goal setting comes much later, after all how can a goal be set if:
- there is no starting point for the goal
- the possibilities of success are not analysed
- the routes to attain the goal are not defined
To address ambition and aims without reviewing goals would be to discuss everything about a game apart from how it can be won.
Goals drive focus across the execution of a digital strategy. They are the most granular planned and reported element to measure success. This can lead to undue attention in planning and beyond. Hitting goals does not always lead to hitting aims, they look good, they should certainly build into aims and therefore ambition, but alone they can become simple vanity. The attractiveness of goals is because of their granularity they can be one of the easiest elements to control.
being S.M.A.R.T
One of the more straightforward techniques for goal creation was defined in 1981 by George T. Doran in his paper called: “There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives”, these have been adapted many times and they are again below:
- Specific: Have very clear objectives, what they mean, what they encompass, and what aims is the goal trying to achieve.
- Measurable: There must be a quantifiable indicator of progress that drives towards the aims.
- Achievable: They must not exceed the set-out aims.
- Relevant: They must work towards the aims.
- Time-bound: There must be a clear cut-off to ascertain whether the goal has been achieved or not and how that has helped deliver the aim.
The focus of goals as discrete building blocks into aims and ambition completes the granularity required to work within manageable pieces of work.
what do (outline) goals look like?
At this thematic juncture it only makes sense to define the outline of what a goal should look like. Since these are discrete, they are the easiest to define when their digital route is defined (channels are immediately suggestive of the KPIs that can be run through them).
cards anyone?
The idea of playing cards to determine the goals behind a digital strategy may horrify some. Goal setting through simple cards is a useful technique to:
- create a simple flow of goals
- maintain realism
- draw out any potential issues amongst planning and execution teams
- highlight missing opportunities
- transfer and build the knowledgebase from planning to execution teams
The following is a simple goal card:
| Goal | Title of Goal | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Detail | |||
|
Description of the goal including:
|
|||
| Ownership | Target deadline | ||
In pulling these together:
- no one should remain silent, silence is implicit ignorance
- everyone must understand the goals and how they fit into the aims
- everyone must understand their role in achieving these goals
The cards are “goal setting lite”, and the rules of any internal game in creating these against the aims in a strategy are unset. As a tool to aid communication of ambition and aims however the approach is sound.
analyse this!
Detailed goal setting requires the appropriate analysis. The nature of goals extends themselves to that analysis including by not exclusively:
- background and previous attainment
- aims transposed to audiences and opportunities
- delivery of message, service and/or product
- seeking better
These however are thoughts for another day.