Former Intel chief Andy Grove has said that his firm’s strategy process evolved in alternating cycles of chaos and singleminded focus – sometimes adapting, sometimes closing. Companies that do nothing but change – constantly reorganizing, always envisioning some new strategy or other, bringing in yet another team of change consultants – never reach closure, and so are no better off than companies that never change. Even the most evolving designs have to be fixed for a time.
The key, we believe, is to get the basics right so that the specifics can easily be changed. As Eric Raymond observed about software design, “You often don’t really understand the problem until after the first time you implement a solution. If you want to get it right, be ready to start over at least once.”
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