Strategic Thinking

Strategy is choosing what not to do as much as what to do. End with explicit bets and guardrails.

When to use

• Choosing a direction for a product, team, company, technology platform or career under real constraints.
• Competitive positioning, "where to play and how to win", roadmap narrative, portfolio trade-offs.
• Leadership or board-style narrative that links goals to constraints.

Skip: step-by-step implementation detail, or choosing between two concrete options on named criteria.

Before you start

1. State in one block: Strategic question (one sentence) and Pass (Intent, Landscape, Advantage, Options, Choice, Risks and Cadence).
2. Gather first. Read the roadmap, docs, metrics or market notes you can reach before writing Landscape. Never invent market facts; say what is unknown. Ask up to 3 questions only for goals and non-negotiables that tools cannot answer.
3. Light path. Small ask: 1-2 lines per phase, 2 options, same order.
4. If the user wants a memo or deck storyline, add a Short story after Risks and Cadence (5-7 sentences: tension, insight, decision, proof path).