• Agile & Scrum Basics

Download: 5 Strategic Steps Canvas

You’re missing the bigger picture. That’s the conclusion you’ve reached with the organization or with the team. High time for a new mission statement! Often these kinds of statements surface after a period of rest, the conclusion of a project or some other benchmark in time. For example, the need for a new strategy is frequently a result of the Fresh-start Effect. But how do you decompose the mission into a series of strategic steps? And how do you then plot the associated concrete goals over time? The 5 Strategic Steps Canvas helps put your thoughts about this on paper.

Working agile means putting added value at the center. Added value is the dot on the horizon. Thanks to the vista, you avoid working ad hoc. This gives all Scrum teams in your organization much more focus. At the same time, it also stimulates mutual cooperation. For Product Owners, Chief Product Owners and Business Owners this is an essential tool.

Where will we be in 5 years?

This canvas focuses on a long-term vision of the organization. That’s why you start by answering the question, “Where will we be in 5 years? Consider what your position will be in the market, your role in society or what the perception of your customers will be.

Around that you write the activities, services or themes you are working on as an organization. These are ongoing activities that you do all the time. Think about the products you provide to your customers. Sometimes it’s also your value-added.

Now you think of the 5 steps that will take you from the current situation to the desired situation five years from now. You can think of the steps as the intermediate results needed to reach the final goal you set.

Blockers and Boosters Make the Steps Agile

Well, you’ve set the goal for five years from now and have also identified the five strategic steps you need to take there. Time to think about roadblocks and boosters. Ask yourself what blockages are getting in the way of achieving the goal. But also ask yourself the question; which boosters can actually help us (accelerate) on our way to our goal in the next five years? Blockages and Boosters can of course be encountered both internally and externally.

The strategic canvas in action

This 5 Strategic Steps Canvas is most effective when you then actually turn it into action. Therefore, after completing the canvas, agree on concrete activities with the team in three areas:

• What you need to do to accomplish the first big step: what “epic” Backlog Items fit this?
• How to take advantage of the Boosters: which stakeholders can you engage?
• And what you will do to avoid the roadblocks: how can you reduce the impact or likelihood of risks?

Get the entire 5 Strategic Steps Canvas

I am happy to email you the entire template for the 5 Strategic Steps Canvas. And also share with you a valuable example of a completed canvas. That will give you one hundred percent new insights! Submit your email address to me below and you’ll receive the canvas within minutes.

Having doubts afterwards about how best to fill in the canvas for your team? Then feel free to get in touch and simply reply to the email I sent you with the canvas attached. I look forward to seeing what my template for the 5 Strategic Steps Canvas can do for you.