When the Past Is Alive in the Code: Rethinking Strategy in a Technological Age

In a world where technology is increasingly shaping our lives, it's time to rethink our strategies and avoid common pitfalls that can hold us back.

TL;DR
• The past is alive in the present through conventions that shape our habits and decisions.
• Multi-solving strategies can help organizations navigate time, but technology can warp strategic coherence.
• Understanding how technology shapes our systems is crucial for effective strategy.

Summary
Technology significantly influences strategic decision-making processes, often tethering future outcomes to past data and conventions. Effective strategy development must consider how technology warps time across past, present, and future dimensions. This involves understanding that the past is materialized in databases, workflows, and legacy code, and that present-day metrics and algorithms can privilege or ignore certain information. When building future projections, it is crucial to examine whose data, assumptions, and narratives are encoded into predictive models. To achieve strategic coherence, organizations must ensure their sociotechnical systems hold a shared sense of meaning and that metrics and incentives do not erode their mission. Key insights include:
• Understanding the past's impact on technology and strategy
• Staying attuned to present-day metrics and algorithms
• Building futures that account for encoded data and narratives
• Ensuring sociotechnical systems align with organizational meaning and mission

The philanthropic space, in particular, must be cautious of 'tech for good' initiatives that may encode existing inequities. A diagnostic framework can help assess an organization's capacity to navigate tech-related challenges. By considering these factors, organizations can develop strategies that truly catalyze systems change and foster a more human(e) future.

As we move forward in a technological age, let's remember to stay attuned to the present, build futures from predictive models, and ensure our sociotechnical systems hold a shared sense of meaning.