strategy-kernel
strategy-kernel
Builds and tests a strategy using Richard Rumelt's kernel from Good Strategy / Bad Strategy: a diagnosis that names the crux, a guiding policy that makes a hard choice, and coherent action that carries it out. Catches the most common failure, where a "strategy" is really a goal, a vision, or a wish list with no diagnosis and no hard choice. The work is in finding the crux and ruling things out, not in stating ambitions.
The kernel, the crux, the sources of power, and the four hallmarks of bad strategy live in references/strategy-kernel.md. Load that file before working and apply the kernel and the bad-strategy audit exactly.
When to use
The user wants a strategy for an organization, business unit, product, or initiative, or wants to know whether something already labeled a strategy holds up. The skill both builds a kernel from a challenge and critiques an existing statement against the four hallmarks. Prefer a sharper tool when the question is narrower:
- For a broad qualitative read of position before strategy, use swot-analysis.
- For industry profit structure and competitive pressure specifically, use porters-five-forces.
- To break out of head-to-head competition by redefining the market, use blue-ocean-strategy.
- To deploy a chosen strategy through the organization, use hoshin-kanri.
- To turn a strategy into measurable near-term commitments, use okr.
The kernel decides what the strategy is; those tools feed it or carry it out.