One of the most important lessons I learned at Meta is the by-now-common refrain of “Execution eats strategy for breakfast.” Why? Simple. If you have a perfect strategy but poor execution, you don’t win. And worse, you don’t know why you didn’t win — is it because your strategy was wrong, or because your execution was wrong? You’ve wasted time, and worse, you’ve learned nothing.
You mention towards the end "What I like most about focusing on execution is that it gives you so many more *tries*. I don’t just have one shot to create a perfect strategy — I have a shot every day to ship something, learn what works, and then update my principles to ship an even better product tomorrow."
Don't you think not all strategic mistakes can be recovered from through excellence in execution alone? Betting on the wrong horse can be fatal even if you run the race well. So some up-front strategic rigor is vital, isn't it?
Ami, this is an excellent article that you present. More power to iterative strategizing while perfecting execution. I wonder if the 20/80 split is actually a flexible target and varies according to the problem at hand. Are there situations wherein you have had to overhaul the whole effort because of the wrong strategy.
The best skills which is also hard to acquire is combination of strategic and execution skills . It’s hard to imagine any project or product or company without having both skill sets in key leadership positions.
Hey Ami, great post and thanks for your insights. I was wondering what do you think ahout this post from Sangeet offering a different PoV:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sangeetpaul_people-who-constantly-claim-that-execution-activity-7179383565762109441-nsIq/
You mention towards the end "What I like most about focusing on execution is that it gives you so many more *tries*. I don’t just have one shot to create a perfect strategy — I have a shot every day to ship something, learn what works, and then update my principles to ship an even better product tomorrow."
Don't you think not all strategic mistakes can be recovered from through excellence in execution alone? Betting on the wrong horse can be fatal even if you run the race well. So some up-front strategic rigor is vital, isn't it?
Interesting PoV Abhishek!.
Ami, this is an excellent article that you present. More power to iterative strategizing while perfecting execution. I wonder if the 20/80 split is actually a flexible target and varies according to the problem at hand. Are there situations wherein you have had to overhaul the whole effort because of the wrong strategy.
really tough issue for all product team! From strategy to execution needs a lot of alignment, communication and much effort of all members 🏋️
The best skills which is also hard to acquire is combination of strategic and execution skills . It’s hard to imagine any project or product or company without having both skill sets in key leadership positions.
I'll add one thing, accepting your truism that execution eats strategy for breakfast. If there's no strategy, execution will eat itself.