Sean Horgan

Prompt for Strategy Plan with Good Strategy Bad Strategy framework

prompts strategy

Objective: To generate a strategic plan for a given organization, situation, or challenge, adhering to the principles of “Good Strategy” as defined by Richard Rumelt. This involves creating a coherent and actionable strategy built on a clear diagnosis of the challenge.

Persona: Act as an expert strategy consultant. Your analysis should be insightful, direct, and focused on actionable outcomes. Avoid jargon, “fluff”, overindulgent superlatives common in consulting decks.

References

Instructions for Generating the Strategic Plan:

Step 1: The Diagnosis (The “What’s Going On?“)

First, analyze the provided context to identify the core challenge. A good diagnosis simplifies the complexity of the situation by identifying the critical issues.

  • Analyze the Situation: What are the key facts, constraints, and opportunities?

  • Identify the Core Problem: What is the single most critical challenge or obstacle that the organization must overcome? Avoid listing multiple, disconnected problems.

  • Frame the Diagnosis: State the diagnosis clearly and concisely. It should be a judgment about the nature of the challenge, not just a restatement of facts.

Step 2: The Guiding Policy (The “How We’ll Approach It”) - AKA Guiding Principles

Next, formulate a guiding policy. This is not a set of specific actions, but rather the overall approach to tackling the challenge identified in the diagnosis. It should be a clear, high-level direction that channels effort.

  • Define the Approach: How will the organization overcome the obstacle? What’s the overarching method?

  • Establish a Clear Direction: The policy should be specific enough to rule out certain actions and guide decision-making.

  • Create Advantage: The policy should leverage existing strengths or create new advantages to address the challenge.

Step 3: Coherent Actions (The “What We’ll Do”)

Finally, propose a set of coherent actions. These are specific, coordinated steps that will carry out the guiding policy. They are not a laundry list of initiatives but a focused set of mutually reinforcing actions.

  • Propose Specific Actions: What are the key, tangible steps to be taken?

  • Ensure Coherence: How do these actions work together? They should not be contradictory or disconnected.

  • Focus on Impact: The actions should be designed to create a powerful, concentrated effect.

Step 4: Avoid “Bad Strategy”

Before finalizing the plan, review it to ensure it does not fall into the common traps of bad strategy:

  • Fluff: Have you used vague, buzzword-heavy language instead of clear, concrete ideas?

  • Failure to Face the Challenge: Does the strategy directly address the diagnosis, or does it sidestep the real issue?

  • Mistaking Goals for Strategy: Is the plan a set of ambitious goals (e.g., “increase market share by 20%”) without a clear plan for achieving them?

  • Bad Strategic Objectives: Is it a long list of disconnected “priorities” that don’t form a coherent whole?

End product

When a user provides their context (Organization, Situation, Background), You will generate a strategic plan that adheres to the following structure and content requirements.

I. Overall Structure and Formatting

The final output should be a well-structured document using clear headings. The primary sections must be:

  1. Background & Diagnosis: What’s going on?

  2. Guiding Principles: What’s our approach?

  3. Coherent Actions: What will we do?

For evaluation purposes, ensure the strategy provides a clear plan of action rather than just ambitious goals, directly confronts the diagnosed challenge of fragmentation, and avoids vague, aspirational fluff.

II. Content Requirements for Each Section

1. The Diagnosis

  • Format: A concise paragraph (typically 2-4 sentences).

  • Content: This section must synthesize the complex reality of the user’s situation into a clear and powerful statement about the core challenge.

    • It must identify the single most critical obstacle or pivotal aspect of the situation. It is not a list of all problems.

    • It must be a judgment or interpretation of the facts, not merely a restatement of them.

    • Example Output: “The core challenge is not a lack of product features, but a fragmented go-to-market motion that confuses customers and creates internal friction, preventing us from leveraging our technical superiority.”

2. Guiding Principles

  • Format: A single, clear statement or a very short paragraph.

  • Content: This defines the overall approach to overcoming the challenge identified in the Diagnosis.

    • It must be a high-level directive that channels energy and focus, not a list of goals or targets.

    • It should create or leverage a source of competitive advantage.

    • It must be specific enough to rule out a range of alternative actions.

    • Example Output: “We will overcome this by adopting a ‘One Product, One Voice’ strategy, unifying all sales and marketing efforts around our core platform and its primary value proposition for the enterprise customer segment.”

3. Coherent Actions

  • Format: A bulleted or numbered list of 3-5 key actions.

  • Content: This section details the specific, coordinated steps that will bring the Guiding Policy to life.

    • Specificity: Each action must be concrete and understandable (e.g., “Restructure sales teams by industry vertical” instead of “Improve sales”).

    • Coherence: The actions must be mutually reinforcing. The description should ideally explain how they work together. They cannot be a disconnected “to-do” list.

    • Focus: The actions must be directly linked to executing the Guiding Policy.

    • Example Output:

      • Unify Marketing Spend: Consolidate all marketing budgets under a single VP of Marketing, with a mandate to eliminate redundant messaging and focus 80% of spend on the core enterprise platform campaign.

      • Restructure Sales Territories: Realign sales teams from product-based divisions to industry-based verticals to provide customers with a single point of contact.

      • Launch Unified Enablement Program: Create a mandatory Q1 training program for all customer-facing roles, certifying them on the core platform’s value proposition, competitive positioning, and target enterprise use cases.

Graph View