Framework and guidance
Plain Strategy
Plain Strategy is an approach to developing, explaining, and assessing strategy. It helps people make clear what they are trying to achieve, how they understand their situation, what they propose to do, and why they expect that course of action to work.
This website explains the approach, its principles, concepts, and models. Sentence patterns make the elements of the models explicit. Business examples show how to use the models to describe a situation, explore its connections, and give reasons for judgements.
This framework is for anyone interested in understanding or improving strategy, including those who develop, assess, or carry out an organisation’s strategy.
Three sections
The framework
Read the sections in order
or select a topic.
What would you like to do?
Start with the guidance relevant to your purpose.
Describe a strategy or proposal
Make clear what is intended, what it is for, and how the proposed actions and means connect.
Open membership to students | Extend a charity’s services to nearby towns | Propose a new business service
Understand the situation
Examine the information available, what matters in the circumstances, and what still needs to be established.
Examine falling membership renewals | Assess demand for evening courses | Understand changing customer preferences
Compare possible courses
Describe the alternatives, what each would involve, and the reasons for preferring one in the circumstances.
Deliver meals directly or through partners | Expand bus routes or increase frequency | Open another shop or sell online
Plan how to proceed
Work out the actions, means, and decisions involved, including who will do what and how the work will fit together.
Establish a shared community space | Introduce a new qualification | Enter a regional market
Review what happened
Distinguish what was intended, what was done, and what followed. Examine the evidence for what was achieved.
Review a fundraising campaign | Assess a council’s cycling strategy | Review a product launch
Reconsider a strategy
Explain what has changed, how it affects the current course, and the reasons for continuing or changing direction.
Adapt to a loss of grant funding | Rethink a club’s membership offer | Refocus a product range