Improve Any Strategy With the 4 D's

by Jeff Humble

Dear Reader,

I teach a strategy course for designers, where one of my jobs is giving feedback on strategies. And it is NOT an easy task.

After years of evaluating strategies, I've developed four checks that I use to ensure that a strategy is as effective as possible.

I think they will give you some insights into strategy design in general.

Check your strategy with 4 questions

Differentiation: Strategy should be about doing things differently than the competition.

You won't benefit from the power of strategy if your strategy is generic or too similar to the competition. A strategy helps you avoid competing entirely by carving out a piece of the market that you can own and grow. Even if you take inspiration from another company in a different industry, try to be the only company in your market doing so.

Desirability: When people want the strategy, execution is easier for everyone.

Your strategies might make sense, but that doesn’t mean people will be excited to implement them. Execution is probably the most challenging part of a strategy project, so ensure you have something people are eager to implement. Desirability might mean aligning with larger consumer trends, embracing innovative working methods, or adapting the strategy to the region’s consumer preferences. A lack of desirability might mean slow adoption, internal pushback, and negative feedback. Seek feedback early and often to ensure you have a desirable strategy.

Doability: You should try to align your strategy with the organization’s capabilities.

Don’t get carried away with desirability to the extent that you can’t execute the strategy. You want a strategy that fits your company's skills and setup. Strategy consultants often make the mistake of pushing for a strategy that doesn’t fit the culture and talent in the organization, so make sure your strategy is feasible and aligns with the company's culture.

Defendability: A strategy should be difficult for competitors to copy.

Since strategy is all about differentiating, you want to stay differentiated. Your strategy should give you a lasting, sustainable advantage over your competitors, not just a brief boost that can be easily copied. This D is last because it’s the hardest. Finding ways to generate lasting advantages is very difficult, and for many companies, defending your strategy might be a continuous battle. You can improve your defendability with anything from patents to re-brands to custom infrastructure.

For detailed examples of each D, check out the full article on my blog.

If you want to learn how to become a strategy designer yourself, check out my six-week strategy course for designers, starting Nov. 4th. Enrollment opens soon!

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NASA modeled carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere using thousands of data points, and the resulting data visualization is beautiful/horrifying.

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I hope we see more of these kinds of visualizations. Climate change is challenging to represent visually, and this model is an excellent start.

Until next time! ✌️🦝

Jeff Humble ​Designer & Co-Founder ​The Fountain Institute

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