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Patterns of Strategy
Patterns of Strategy shows how the strategic fit between organisations drives strategic direction. It is essential reading for those who wish to understand how to manoeuvre their organisation to change its strategic fit to their advantage. The 80 ‘patterns’ of strategy help you explore options for collaboration and competition within your strategic ecosystem. A practical and authoritative guide, you can use it to plan and navigate your strategic future.
- GenresBusiness
406 pages, Paperback
Published February 27, 2017
11 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Hoverstadt
4 books14 followersThe books and papers I write have come directly from practical consulting work and it’s really important to me that whatever I write about is based in reality. So, although it almost always involves taking a radically different perspective to traditional management approaches, it’s never a flight of fancy, it’s always rooted in solving practical problems for real organisations.
I do consultancy mainly in organisation design, strategy, and organisational change using management science and systems approaches. That basis in systems makes it really easy to provide a different take on a wide range of organisational and strategic issues where the traditional paradigm has been reductionist linear thinking. As well as making the task of developing new approaches much easier, basing it in systems thinking provides at least some reassurance that there is a strong theoretical basis for what we’re doing.
In my spare time (when I’m not doing consultancy, developing new approaches, or writing) I do a bit of academic work, for several business schools and I’m a visiting research fellow at Cranfield. I also chair a community of systems practitioners - SCiO.
Aside from work, I enjoy sailing tallships, climbing mountains, cycling, and pubs and along with Karen Blixen and Sir Walter Scott I share an abiding love affair with Scottish Deerhounds
I do consultancy mainly in organisation design, strategy, and organisational change using management science and systems approaches. That basis in systems makes it really easy to provide a different take on a wide range of organisational and strategic issues where the traditional paradigm has been reductionist linear thinking. As well as making the task of developing new approaches much easier, basing it in systems thinking provides at least some reassurance that there is a strong theoretical basis for what we’re doing.
In my spare time (when I’m not doing consultancy, developing new approaches, or writing) I do a bit of academic work, for several business schools and I’m a visiting research fellow at Cranfield. I also chair a community of systems practitioners - SCiO.
Aside from work, I enjoy sailing tallships, climbing mountains, cycling, and pubs and along with Karen Blixen and Sir Walter Scott I share an abiding love affair with Scottish Deerhounds
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 14, 2021
Business strategy manual
It is a business strategy manual with a holistic approach. I can wait to put it at work to see how practical can be to use on a day to day business consulting work.
It is a business strategy manual with a holistic approach. I can wait to put it at work to see how practical can be to use on a day to day business consulting work.
December 11, 2023
Essentially a cookbook.
Parts 1 & 2 introduce and expand on the authors' strategic framework (Power, Fit, Time) and emphasize strategy as an active, emergent process that co-evolves with its environment to form a mutual 'fit'. They note that most strategy fails because it ignores these elements. As they put it, "Strategy is a sequence of actions and events that unfold in real time, not according to a five-year plan or an annual budgeting cycle."
Part 3 lays out the 'recipes' grouped as 'Competitive', 'Collaborative', 'Defensive', 'Growth', etc. with step-by-step maneuvers to execute about a third of them. The strategies are very specific about which elements of the framework from the earlier parts are need in order to be successful.
Part 4 addresses the resources needed to develop and execute strategy.
I found the last part of the book the most insightful. The chapter Rock, Paper, Scissors gives an overview of five major industries (commercial aerospace, autos, IT, clipper ships - more on this later, energy) as one strategy manages to best the incumbent only to fall to the next successful strategy over time as its environment changes.
The final chapter emphasizes the need for a 'strategy about strategy', especially the need for agility and foresight, and warns to acquire those skills before they are needed.
You'll find many stalwart notions of planning here, from Eisenhower's "The value is in the planning, not the plan" to Mike Tyson's admonition that, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." (though here in the original von Moltke). The insight that strategy is an active process, not a static artifact is also found in Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters.
My major hang-up with the book, especially Part 3, was that I found myself ignoring the carefully drawn X's and O's supporting the framework from Parts 1 & 2 and sticking with the narratives. Probably half the book was wasted on me. Also, be warned that you may need to brush up on your British slang ("Streets Ahead"?). Finally, one of the authors at least is waaaay into sailing, so get ready for some yachting analogies and nineteenth-century clipper ship history.
IF your job is strategy, this justifies its space on your bookshelf. Just don't expect to make every dish in the cookbook.
Parts 1 & 2 introduce and expand on the authors' strategic framework (Power, Fit, Time) and emphasize strategy as an active, emergent process that co-evolves with its environment to form a mutual 'fit'. They note that most strategy fails because it ignores these elements. As they put it, "Strategy is a sequence of actions and events that unfold in real time, not according to a five-year plan or an annual budgeting cycle."
Part 3 lays out the 'recipes' grouped as 'Competitive', 'Collaborative', 'Defensive', 'Growth', etc. with step-by-step maneuvers to execute about a third of them. The strategies are very specific about which elements of the framework from the earlier parts are need in order to be successful.
Part 4 addresses the resources needed to develop and execute strategy.
I found the last part of the book the most insightful. The chapter Rock, Paper, Scissors gives an overview of five major industries (commercial aerospace, autos, IT, clipper ships - more on this later, energy) as one strategy manages to best the incumbent only to fall to the next successful strategy over time as its environment changes.
The final chapter emphasizes the need for a 'strategy about strategy', especially the need for agility and foresight, and warns to acquire those skills before they are needed.
You'll find many stalwart notions of planning here, from Eisenhower's "The value is in the planning, not the plan" to Mike Tyson's admonition that, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." (though here in the original von Moltke). The insight that strategy is an active process, not a static artifact is also found in Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters.
My major hang-up with the book, especially Part 3, was that I found myself ignoring the carefully drawn X's and O's supporting the framework from Parts 1 & 2 and sticking with the narratives. Probably half the book was wasted on me. Also, be warned that you may need to brush up on your British slang ("Streets Ahead"?). Finally, one of the authors at least is waaaay into sailing, so get ready for some yachting analogies and nineteenth-century clipper ship history.
IF your job is strategy, this justifies its space on your bookshelf. Just don't expect to make every dish in the cookbook.
June 7, 2025
This book has some gems in it.
First it models strategy more realistic in terms of a fit to and constant interaction with the environment comparable to thinking in the context of fitness in evolution and is by that compatible to complex adaptive systems and their management. Not just this stupid, first you sit down, then you think long and hard, then you define your strategy, then you just execute and last you control easy that is the too easy solution in classic management literature.
Especially the beginning and the end it's strong. The collection of patterns is super fine and has the pros and cons that are typical of such a collection.
The only downside of that book is that it is a quite lengthy read at times. The style reminded me a lot of my university days where especially management literature is explicit and systematic to a fault which makes it tedious to read in the sections where the authors explain their concepts. A reduction in length by 30% would have done the book much good here.
First it models strategy more realistic in terms of a fit to and constant interaction with the environment comparable to thinking in the context of fitness in evolution and is by that compatible to complex adaptive systems and their management. Not just this stupid, first you sit down, then you think long and hard, then you define your strategy, then you just execute and last you control easy that is the too easy solution in classic management literature.
Especially the beginning and the end it's strong. The collection of patterns is super fine and has the pros and cons that are typical of such a collection.
The only downside of that book is that it is a quite lengthy read at times. The style reminded me a lot of my university days where especially management literature is explicit and systematic to a fault which makes it tedious to read in the sections where the authors explain their concepts. A reduction in length by 30% would have done the book much good here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2024
If we follow the often used culinary analogy, this book teaches you how to be a strategy chef.
The first chapters lays out the components of a balanced meal (power, time and fit) and how to make it tasty (appropriate proportions, timings, etc.).
It then provides an extensive set of (many familiar) recipes and menus built using those ingredients in various combinations, followed by a chapter on how to get to work in the kitchen.
Like any pattern book, I guess the danger is to fall into the trap of being beguiled by the recipes rather taking the time and effort to create and tailor your own to your family's needs.
A book that I will refer back to again and again.
The first chapters lays out the components of a balanced meal (power, time and fit) and how to make it tasty (appropriate proportions, timings, etc.).
It then provides an extensive set of (many familiar) recipes and menus built using those ingredients in various combinations, followed by a chapter on how to get to work in the kitchen.
Like any pattern book, I guess the danger is to fall into the trap of being beguiled by the recipes rather taking the time and effort to create and tailor your own to your family's needs.
A book that I will refer back to again and again.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews