Why don’t we have a strategy?
I&#x27;m a strategic thinker. I have been, almost my entire career. I write software that lasts <i>decades</i>, and have authored systems that took ten years to mature.<p>The issue is that I have almost never been <i>allowed</i> to express, communicate, or implement my strategies.<p>&quot;Strategic thinking&quot; is an ego thing. Only &quot;big bosses&quot; are &quot;allowed&quot; to &quot;think strategically.&quot; If those of us, down in the trenches, &quot;dare&quot; to think strategically, we&#x27;re being &quot;uppity.&quot;<p>What a nightmare. At my last company, I foresaw the problems that eventually resulted in the company falling down (and my team being made redundant), at least a decade in advance. I remember being called a &quot;Cassandra,&quot; and also being told that it &quot;wasn&#x27;t specific enough.&quot;<p>For example, when the iPhone first came out, I borrowed one of my employees&#x27; new iPhone, and took it up to Marketing. I said &quot;This is gonna be trouble.&quot;<p>I was laughed out of the office.<p>Ten years later, the company&#x27;s business was in shambles; almost entirely because smartphones ate their lunch. I remember hearing people whining about &quot;How could we have foreseen this?&quot;<p>These days, I write software on my own. I don&#x27;t have anyone telling me &quot;Go away kid, yer bodderin&#x27; me.&quot;<p>It&#x27;s been working well.