STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning is the process of defining a team’s long-term goals, priorities, and actionable steps to achieve them. It involves analyzing current challenges, identifying opportunities, and aligning efforts with the overarching vision and objectives of the organization. For a team, strategic planning is vital as it provides a clear direction, fosters alignment, and ensures resources are allocated effectively. It empowers teams to anticipate challenges, adapt to change, and work cohesively toward shared outcomes, ultimately driving success and sustained growth.
Electronic Arts: Strategic Planning
I introduced a comprehensive strategic planning process to the EA Customer Service team, which previously lacked an established practice and struggled to distinguish between operational tasks and strategic initiatives. This overlap often led to confusion and capacity issues, as the same teams were tasked with delivering both types of work. By implementing a structured process and clearly defining work types, we were able to streamline the team's efforts, allocate resources more effectively, and create a clear distinction between day-to-day operations and strategic projects. This approach not only improved clarity but also enhanced capacity management across the team.
Electronic Arts: Customer Service Strategic Planning Evolution
Building our strategic house was a true labor of love. Over two years, we developed and introduced a comprehensive approach to strategy creation, project alignment, and resource allocation, ensuring our most critical initiatives were prioritized and executed effectively. To enhance this framework, we implemented OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), establishing clear, measurable goals to track progress and evaluate the success of our efforts.
Beyond creating this system, we trained the entire 500+ person organization to understand its purpose and integrate it into their own workflows. This not only unified our strategic efforts but also empowered teams to apply these principles to their work, fostering alignment and accountability across the organization.
PayPal Human Resources
The PayPal HR Leadership team enlisted my help to create a prioritization process that would enable them to review proposed projects, align them with corporate objectives, and establish a manageable backlog for future work. We developed a streamlined, user-friendly process that provided a clear framework for evaluating and comparing work across the organization. This approach not only helped the team organize their efforts but also laid the foundation for tracking and measuring the success of their initiatives effectively.
PayPal UX Team: Strategic Planning
The PayPal UX team operated as a service team but lacked a clear process to distinguish between the work they were created to support and the internal improvements they wanted to invest in for greater operational efficiency. To address this, I introduced a structured process that allowed the team to clearly differentiate and prioritize these two types of work, ensuring that we could effectively invest in both supporting external projects and driving internal improvements. This approach not only streamlined workflows but also enhanced the team's ability to balance immediate needs with long-term operational goals.
