IT Strategic Planning Distill Playbook
Tools, worksheets, and guidelines to identify IT vision, mission, goals, and objectives
In the Distill phase, IT strategic planners synthesize the results of the Discover phase and develop key IT strategic plan elements such as vision and mission statements and IT strategic goals and objectives.
A thoughtful mission and vision statement anchor many IT strategic plans. They express an organizational ideal, and encompass the essential work to promote that shared purpose. The mission statement expresses what IT does and who it serves in pursuit of that goal, and the vision statement is the aspirational future state that IT strives to realize. IT strategic goals encapsulate the outcomes or desired state the IT department wants to achieve in fulfillment of a strategic need. IT objectives identify concrete actions to further those goals.
The Distill Playbook provides a process that an IT strategic planning working group can complete to develop mission and vision statements for the IT organization. It also supports the development of IT strategic goals and objectives that will become the body of the IT strategic plan.
Step 1: Prepare for distill phase efforts
The work of drafting an IT vision and mission statement and institutional goals and objectives is one that participants should enter with as much background knowledge as possible. Cataloging prior work from the environmental scan, SWOT analysis, and goals cascade, including the documentation from other playbooks, and disseminating it in advance is critical for a productive and thoughtful session.
Download the supporting tool:
Step 2: Develop IT mission and vision statements
Walking the fine line between grandiose statements and realistic expectations is a difficult balance to master. Equally challenging is generating buy-in for a final version of these statements. Workshops and exercises outlined in this section solicit community input and generate draft mission and vision statements for the IT strategic planning working group to consider.
Download the supporting tool:
Step 3: Develop IT strategic goals and objectives
Also difficult is encapsulating the many data points surfaced during the discovery phase into distinct goals related to strategic needs, and actionable steps to support those efforts. Workshops and exercises outlined in this section facilitate small-group consideration of each IT activity category surfaced in earlier work, and a guided process to refine that work into draft IT goals and objectives.
Download the supporting tool:
This resource requires EAB partnership access to view.
Access the tool
Learn how you can get access to this resource as well as hands-on support from our experts through IT Strategy Advisory Services.
Learn More