Why Strategy Still Matters in a World That Won’t Sit Still
A common refrain I hear is that software evolves too quickly for long-term strategy to be relevant. Why waste time on a plan that will be obsolete in six months? It’s a tempting narrative in our current reality defined by an AI revolution, shifting buyer behaviors, competitive disruption and geopolitical instability. But dismissing strategy as too constraining, too inflexible, is not only misguided, it risks leaving organizations rudderless at precisely the moment clarity is most needed.
Richard Rumelt, in Good Strategy Bad Strategy, reminds us that the essence of good strategy is not in predicting the future, rather it is in diagnosing the core challenge, crafting a guiding policy, and coordinating coherent action. That diagnosis, when grounded in customer problems rather than product whims, is the anchor that keeps an organization from chasing every shiny object. Strategy, properly understood, is less about a fixed roadmap and more about focus and coherence.
Roman Pichler, in Strategize, reinforces this idea: clarity of purpose and problem definition enables better choices in the short term. In his view, a strategy is iterative, regularly revisited, adjusted, and informed by evidence. This doesn’t mean the strategy is irrelevant. It means it is alive, dynamic, and responsive. It provides orientation in the face of uncertainty, not rigid prescription.
He goes as far as quoting Winston Churchill: “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.”
The Power of Purpose and Principles
Multiple studies have shown that companies guided by a strong sense of purpose outperform their peers. The Harvard Business Review found that over 90% of companies with a clear and shared sense of purpose deliver growth at or above industry averages. Purpose, vision, and values create the clarity that drives the team to outperform. Together they serve as the “north star” against which adjustments and experimentation can be evaluated.
John Maxwell and Brené Brown both stress that leadership is about intentionality and authenticity. Without a clear sense of “why,” leaders drift. With it, they can create cultures where ambiguity isn’t paralyzing but energizing. The team knows what it is working toward and the value they are bringing to the world, even when the journey takes unexpected turns.
Execution in the Age of Ambiguity
Execution speed and adaptability separate the breakout companies from the rest. But speed without focus is chaos. Strategy provides the discipline to decide what not to do. As Rumelt would put it, it concentrates resources against the most critical obstacles. Adaptive leadership, as Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky have argued in The Practice of Adaptive Leadership and Leadership on the Line, requires both the willingness to live with ambiguity and the courage to commit to direction.
The real danger is not that strategy constrains innovation, but that the absence of strategy fragments it. Teams chase different priorities, resources scatter, and morale erodes. Lack of focus, death by indigestion, is an all too common outcome for early stage companies. By contrast, a living strategy, anchored in purpose, attuned to customer problems, and flexible enough to evolve, enables experimentation with coherence. It offers both direction and adaptability, clarity and creativity.
Conclusion
The speed of change in software does not negate the need for strategy; it amplifies it. Purpose and principles give meaning, and strategy provides focus. Vision, mission, and values are essential for high performance, but so too is a strategy that surfaces the core problems we solve for customers, identifies the obstacles and opportunities ahead, and guides coherent action.
In other words: strategy is not an anachronistic cage. Done well, it is the lens that provides the focus needed to execute at speed.
