The HBR online has published an intriguing piece about the formation of strategy from a combination of information synthesised by people and machines. In essence, it’s saying that some parts of strategy formulation should be informed by rules (i.e. data) and others by intuition (i.e. people). the concept is nicely encapsulated in the graphic below.
An integrated strategy machine is the collection of resources, both technological and human, that act in concert to develop and execute business strategies. It comprises a range of conceptual and analytical operations, including problem definition, signal processing, pattern recognition, abstraction and conceptualization, analysis, and prediction. One of its critical functions is reframing, which is repeatedly redefining the problem to enable deeper insights. Within this machine, people and technology must each play their particular roles in an integrated fashion.
