How the work is done
What the method is for, the steps, a worked example, and where it goes wrong.
A file to start from
The page explains the template; the editable Word, PowerPoint or Excel file comes by email.
Answer, and get a result
Checks, builders and calculators that run on the page. Their scores are our rubric, not research, and each tool says so.
Where to start
Strategy vs. Tactics: The One-Question Test
You are new to the work. A strategy is a set of choices about where and how you will win, including what you give up. A tactic is an action judged by the choice above it. Ask…
Start with the difference →The Bad Strategy Detector: Test Your Plan for Rumelt's Hallmarks
You have a strategy and doubt it. Eighteen statements about your current strategy, scored on six dimensions drawn from Rumelt's hallmarks of bad strategy. You get a score, the weakest…
Run the check →Strategic Plan Template: One Page of Choices, Then the Full Plan
You have to write the plan. A strategic plan template has two layers: one page of choices (objective, where to play, how to win, what stops) and a full plan that writes down the…
Get the template →The eight parts of the job
What strategy is
Strategy, tactics, mission and vision, and the tests that tell a strategy from a plan.
- Corporate vs. Business vs. Functional Strategy: Who Decides WhatGuide
- Good Strategy, Bad Strategy: Rumelt's Kernel Test as a ChecklistTemplate
- Mission vs. Vision vs. Strategy: What Goes WhereGuide
- Mission, Vision and Values Template: Write Values That Cost SomethingTemplate
- Playing to Win: Running the Five Choices as One DecisionGuide
- Strategy Statement Builder: Objective, Scope and AdvantageTool
- Strategy vs. Tactics: The One-Question TestGuide
- The Bad Strategy Detector: Test Your Plan for Rumelt's HallmarksTool
- What Strategy Is, and Five Things It Gets Mistaken ForGuide
- Why Strategies Fail, and Where the “70%” Figure Comes FromGuide
The planning cycle
The strategic plan, the operating plan, scenarios, roadmaps and the offsite.
- PESTEL Analysis Template: The Worksheet That Asks “So What?”Template
- SWOT Analysis Template: From SWOT to a TOWS MatrixTemplate
- Scenario Planning Template: Workshop Kit With a Competitive War GameTool
- Scenario Planning That Changes a Decision: How Practitioners Do ItGuide
- Strategic Plan Template: One Page of Choices, Then the Full PlanTemplate
- Strategic Planning for Small Business, Without a Strategy TeamGuide
- Strategic Roadmap Template: Draw the Forks, Not Just the RoadTool
- Strategy Offsite Agenda Builder: Plan a Day That Ends in DecisionsTool
- Strategy Offsite Pre-Work Checklist: Ready to Decide, or NotTemplate
- Strategy Refresh or Re-Plan? A Decision GuideTool
- The Annual Planning Cycle: Strategy, Plan and Operating PlanGuide
Execution and goals
KPIs, OKRs, scorecards, initiatives and the quarterly review.
- Execution Health Check: A Strategy Execution Assessment in 20 LinesTool
- Hoshin Kanri and the X-Matrix: Template, Catchball and ReviewsTemplate
- Initiative Prioritization Scorer: RICE, Head to HeadTool
- Is Your Key Result Secretly a Task? A 12-Question QuizTool
- KPI Dashboard Template: Every Tile Needs a Comparison and an OwnerTemplate
- KPI Examples That Track Strategy, Not ActivityGuide
- OKR Writer and Quality Checker: Draft an OKR You Can GradeTool
- OKR vs. KPI: Which Numbers to Hold Steady and Which to MoveGuide
- Quarterly Business Review Template: An Agenda That Ends in DecisionsTemplate
- Strategic Initiative Charter: Template and How to Write OneTemplate
- Strategic Initiatives: Four Tests for What Earns the LabelGuide
- Strategy Execution: Where It Breaks Between the Offsite and MondayGuide
- Strategy Map Template: Draw the Arrows, Then Test ThemTool
The analyst's toolkit
Issue trees, MECE, market sizing and competitive analysis from primary sources.
- Analysis QA Checklist: Check the Choices Before the CellsTemplate
- Competitive Analysis Template: A Rival Profile You Can ScoreTool
- Competitive Benchmarking Without Fooling YourselfGuide
- Competitor Analysis: A Practitioner's Method for Predicting MovesGuide
- How Strategists Think: Hypothesis-Driven Problem SolvingGuide
- Industry Analysis From Primary Sources: Put a Number on Each ForceGuide
- Issue Tree Builder: From One Question to Testable BranchesTool
- MECE, With Real Work ExamplesGuide
- Market Sizing Calculator: Top-Down vs. Bottom-UpTool
- TAM, SAM, SOM, Done HonestlyGuide
- The Pyramid Principle for Strategists: Where Storylines BreakGuide
- Which Strategy Framework Answers Your Question? A Decision GuideTool
Communicating strategy
The memo, the executive summary, the board presentation and the strategy on a page.
- Action Titles: Rewrite the Slide Title in Ten Practice RoundsTool
- Board Presentation on Strategy: Guide and TemplateTemplate
- Communicating Strategy So People Can Act on ItGuide
- Executive Summary Template: Situation, Complication, ResolutionTemplate
- Storyboard a Presentation Before You Build a Single SlideTool
- Strategy Cascade Kit: Town Halls That Reach the Front LineTool
- Strategy Deck Checklist: Check the Argument Before the SlidesTemplate
- Strategy on a Page: A Template That Carries the WhyTool
- The Narrative Memo: Template and MethodTemplate
Decisions and alignment
Decision rights, stakeholders, managing up and running a room that decides.
- Decision Meeting Checklist: Most of It Happens the Day BeforeTemplate
- Disagree and Commit, Properly: What It Asks of Both SidesGuide
- Getting a Room to Decide: A Decision-Making FrameworkGuide
- Managing Up: Selling a Recommendation to a Skeptical ExecutiveGuide
- RACI Chart Template Builder: Roles for One Real DecisionTool
- RACI vs. RAPID vs. DACI: Which Decision Model, WhenGuide
- Stakeholder Interview Questions for Strategy Work, With a GuideTool
- Stakeholder Mapping for Strategy Work: Who Can Move, and HowGuide
- Strategic Alignment Check: Can Your Managers Name the Priorities?Tool
- Strategy Workshop Facilitation: Who Speaks First DecidesGuide
- Workshop Design Canvas: Plan Who Hears What, and WhenTemplate
The strategy function
What a strategy team does, the roles in it, and the first 90 days.
- 30-60-90 Day Plan for a New Strategy RoleTemplate
- Should We Hire a Strategic Planning Consultant? A Decision GuideTool
- Strategy Function Maturity Assessment: Does It Shape Decisions?Tool
- Strategy Function Metrics: Count Decisions, Follow the MoneyGuide
- Strategy Team Charter Template: Decisions Served, Work RefusedTool
- Strategy vs. Corporate Development vs. BizOps: Who Owns WhatGuide
- The Chief Strategy Officer Role: Mandates, Power and PitfallsGuide
- The Strategy Manager Role: The Work, the Skills, the PathGuide
- What a Corporate Strategy Team Actually DoesGuide
The strategist's career
Strategic thinking, the skills behind it, and how a strategist develops.
- Consulting Exit Opportunities: The Move Into Corporate StrategyGuide
- Individual Development Plan for Strategists: Template and ExampleTool
- Market Sizing Questions: An Eleven-Question Drill on MethodTool
- Strategic Thinking Self-Assessment: Score What You Did Last MonthTool
- Strategic Thinking: What It Is and How to Build ItGuide
- Strategist Skills Matrix: A Skills Matrix Template Rated by EvidenceTool
- Strategy Career Path Explorer: Pick the Decision, Then the JobTool
- Strategy Consultant Salary: What the Public Data Can and Can't SayGuide
- Strategy Résumé: Showing Impact From Decisions You Didn't Make AloneTool
- The Strategist's Reading List: 13 Strategy Books, AnnotatedGuide
For the decisions themselves, the Strategic Decisions guides show how companies chose and how it turned out, and the Strategy Packs carry the working files for each one.
More from Stratrix
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Set a live decision against the companies that made it before you.
AcquisitionsThe Distance TestDivestituresThe Divestiture TestDiversificationThe Diversification TestMake or buyThe Make-or-Buy TestAll Access
Every Casebook, three Strategy Packs a seat each year and the Analyst, for teams that face these decisions all year.
$1,999 a year · $499 a seatWhat is included →Strategic Decisions
The big calls companies keep facing, told through the 819 companies on record that made them.
24 decisionsFind your decision →New analyses, by email
The defining moves in business, checked against the record, as they publish.