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Back to The Compass ArchitectureThe Compass Architecture · 01 of 07

Strategic Intent

Make direction explicit. Align leadership on the business you are building, the choices it requires, and the priorities that matter now.

Which choices will define the business you are building?

View as

The situation · Advisor / Coach

Client conversations often begin with symptoms—missed targets, overloaded leaders—before anyone has named the direction those symptoms are measured against.

Desired outcomes

  • A shared vocabulary for direction, choices and priorities
  • Discovery questions that surface conflicting assumptions
  • A consistent starting point across Compass engagements

Next step

Prepare for client discovery with the full Strategic Intent reading.

Read What Is Enterprise Business Architecture?
In the Architecture

What Strategic Intent creates

Value created
Explicit strategic choices and a shared leadership focus.
Informs the next discipline
Gives FTB 80/20 the direction against which to test where the business creates value.

Ownership and the executive team state what must be true about the enterprise three to five years out, and name the few objectives that carry it. This is the only stage where the answer is allowed to be aspirational.

Strategic intent — what the enterprise is actually trying to become, stated precisely enough to be designed against. Vague intent is the most expensive document in a business, because every downstream element inherits its ambiguity.

Suppliers · Inputs · Process · Outputs · Customers

The Strategic Intent SIPOC

Suppliers

  • Owners, board or family
  • CEO and executive team
  • Market and customer evidence

Inputs

  • Ownership ambition and time horizon
  • Current results, constraints and commitments
  • Market, customer and competitive signals

Process

  • Describe what must be true three to five years out
  • Make the strategic choices and trade-offs explicit
  • Name the few priorities that matter now
  • Agree how progress will be reviewed

Outputs

  • A written strategic intent
  • Explicit choices and trade-offs
  • A focused leadership agenda

Customers

  • The leadership team
  • FTB 80/20, which tests where value concentrates
  • Every function that inherits the direction
Insights