Tier 4

std - Strategy Discovery

Strategy Discovery

Overview

Find or create an approach to achieve a goal

Steps

Step 1: Analyze goal and constraints

Deep analysis of what we’re trying to achieve and what limits us:

Goal Analysis:

  1. What is the core outcome required?
  2. What are the success criteria?
  3. What is the timeline?
  4. Why does this goal matter (motivation)?

Constraint Analysis:

  1. Hard constraints (cannot be violated)
  2. Soft constraints (prefer to satisfy)
  3. Resource constraints (what we have to work with)
  4. Ethical/legal constraints
  5. Dependencies (what must happen first)

Search for existing solutions to this exact problem:

  1. Has this goal been achieved before?

    • By whom? When? In what context?
    • What strategy did they use?
    • What were the results?

  2. Are there documented approaches?

    • Best practices
    • Case studies
    • Academic research
    • Industry standards

  3. What can we learn from precedents?

    • What worked well?
    • What failed?
    • What would they do differently?

Step 3: Analogical reasoning

Find similar problems and adapt their solutions:

Same Domain:

  1. What similar goals exist in this domain?
  2. What strategies work for those?
  3. How would we adapt them?

Cross-Domain:

  1. What does this goal look like in other domains?
    • If this were a military problem, what would it be?
    • If this were a biological system, what would it be?
    • If this were a business problem, what would it be?
  2. What strategies work in those domains?
  3. How can we translate them?

Pattern Matching:

  1. Is this a “build vs buy” problem?
  2. Is this a “growth vs optimization” problem?
  3. Is this a “speed vs quality” tradeoff?

Step 4: Decomposition-based discovery

Work backward from goal to identify strategic components:

  1. What sub-goals must be achieved?

    • List all necessary conditions for success
    • Identify the critical path

  2. For each sub-goal, what strategies exist?

    • Map sub-goals to known strategies
    • Identify gaps

  3. How do sub-strategies combine?

    • Sequential vs parallel execution
    • Dependencies between strategies
    • Potential conflicts

Step 5: Constraint and resource filtering

Filter and adapt strategies based on constraints and resources:

  1. For each candidate strategy:

    • Does it violate hard constraints? (eliminate if yes)
    • Does it satisfy soft constraints? (note tradeoffs)
    • Is it achievable with available resources?
    • What resources would need to be acquired?

  2. Resource gap analysis:

    • What do we have vs what do we need?
    • Can gaps be filled? At what cost?
    • Are there resource-light alternatives?

  3. Risk assessment:

    • What could go wrong?
    • How likely is each risk?
    • What’s the impact?

Step 6: Strategy synthesis

Combine and refine strategies into final candidates:

  1. Identify complementary strategies

    • Which strategies could be combined?
    • Do combinations create synergies?
    • Do combinations eliminate weaknesses?

  2. Create hybrid strategies

    • Combine best elements of multiple approaches
    • Ensure coherence (no internal conflicts)

  3. Define each final strategy:

    • Name and brief description
    • Key components/phases
    • Expected timeline
    • Resource requirements
    • Success probability estimate
    • Key risks

Step 7: Strategy evaluation and recommendation

Evaluate strategies and select recommendation:

Evaluation Criteria:

  1. Likelihood of success (based on evidence)
  2. Resource efficiency (output vs input)
  3. Time to results
  4. Risk level
  5. Reversibility (can we change course?)
  6. Learning value (what do we gain even if it fails?)

Scoring:

  • Rate each strategy on each criterion (1-5)
  • Weight criteria by importance to this goal
  • Calculate weighted score

Recommendation:

  • Select highest-scoring strategy
  • Document rationale
  • Identify when to reconsider this choice

Step 8: Create execution outline

Develop high-level execution plan for recommended strategy:

  1. Phase breakdown:

    • What are the major phases?
    • What’s the objective of each phase?
    • What are the phase transitions?

  2. Key milestones:

    • What marks progress?
    • What are the decision points?
    • What would trigger strategy change?

  3. Resource allocation:

    • What resources needed when?
    • What are the critical dependencies?

  4. Risk mitigation:

    • How will identified risks be managed?
    • What are the contingency plans?

When to Use

  • No existing strategy exists for a newly defined goal
  • Current strategy is failing and alternatives are needed
  • Goal has been refined and needs a fresh strategic approach
  • Multiple stakeholders have different ideas about approach
  • Resources or constraints have changed significantly
  • Exploring whether a goal is achievable before commitment
  • Comparing strategic options before major resource investment
  • Periodic strategic review reveals current path is suboptimal

Verification

  • Multiple discovery approaches used (not just one source of strategies)
  • At least 3 viable strategies identified before recommendation
  • Recommended strategy has clear rationale tied to goal and constraints
  • Execution outline is detailed enough to begin procedure discovery
  • Risks are identified with mitigation approaches
  • Alternatives are ranked for fallback purposes