Official skill · Strategy

Strategy kernel

v1.0.1 · Updated 4 November 2026

Writes a one-page strategy kernel (diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent actions) and tests it, or an existing plan, for the four signs of bad strategy. Use it when A plan is a list of goals and initiatives with no stated problem.

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When to use it

A plan is a list of goals and initiatives with no stated problem
Someone asks whether a strategy is any good
Before setting OKRs or a quarterly plan

What you give it

The situation and its numbers
The current strategy or plan, if any
Resources and constraints
Who the strategy is for and who decides

What you get

A one-page kernel with a diagnosis, a guiding policy and what it rules out, coherent actions, a near-term objective, and a pass/fail bad-strategy test.

How it works

Collect the facts and the existing plan Restate the situation in a few lines, with numbers and their sources. If there is an existing strategy, quote its stated goals and initiatives as they are written; you will test them in step 6.
Write the diagnosis Name the one or two aspects of the situation that matter most and explain why they are the obstacle. Leave out the side issues; the reader should finish it knowing which part of the problem to push on. Write it as a judgment, not a list of every problem. If two diagnoses are plausible, write both and say what evidence would decide between them.
Write the guiding policy State the overall approach to the obstacle in one or two sentences. It should rule things out: name what the organization will not do because of it. A guiding policy is a method, not a goal; "grow 20%" is not one, "win back renewals by owning onboarding for small accounts" is.
Write three to five coherent actions Each action is a concrete commitment of people, money, or time that carries out the policy. Then check coherence: for each pair, say how one supports the other. Drop actions that don't connect to the policy, even if they are good ideas.
Add a near-term objective Pick one objective the organization can actually reach soon with what it has, that moves it through the obstacle. Give it an owner and a date.
Run the bad-strategy test Check the draft, and any existing strategy, for the four signs. Fluff: impressive-sounding words that say nothing a reader didn't already know. Failure to face the challenge: the plan never says what is standing in the way. Mistaking goals for strategy: targets and ambitions with no account of how to get there. Bad strategic objectives: a long wish list with no order, or objectives that leave the team no closer to an answer than before. For each sign, mark Pass or Fail with the line that fails and a rewrite.
End with decisions and next actions What the decider must agree to, what to stop doing because of the policy, and the facts still to check.

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