Strategy vs Tactics
The words strategy and tactics are tossed around some Dilbertised IT departments like a Management Consultant’s wet dream. Once, these words actually meant something. As much as I hate a lot of the unnecessary business buzzwords, I also hate to lose words that are actually useful, and can provide valuable insight into why we do what we do.
So what do they mean, and why the hell should you care?
By their dictionary definitions, strategy and tactics don’t sound very different. In colloquial use, they have a different spin to them. Strategy is about working towards a common, greater, usually longer-term goal. Tactics is a series of steps to solve a problem, or accomplish a direct goal. Players of chess are familiar with these terms. Strategic players tend to move all their pieces in unison according to some greater game-plan, where tactical players work on executing a series of moves.
If you start thinking about what you’re doing with your client’s or your computing infrastructure in terms of strategy versus tactics, you might be able to give a better solution.
For example:
Problem: You’re running low on disk space on the primary file server again.
The Tactical solution to the problem might be to add another disk to the file server. Problem solved.
The Strategic solution might be that you realise that it’s only been six months since you last had to add a disk to the file server. The company’s data usage is growing by 40% per year. With the help of your boss, you build a business case for a Storage Area Network that will handle the primary file server’s growth for the next five years, as well as allow you to expand your SQL Server environment. Backups during business hours with no performance impact are also a bonus. Problem solved.
Thinking strategically can be harder than thinking tactically, but you end up with a better environment at the end of the day, that services the business’s needs more appropriately. Having said that, sometimes the quickest solution is the most appropriate. You just have to judge each situation on its own merits.
When you think in this way, it becomes easier to judge if you’re doing the right thing.
By the way - I don’t play chess, I just know a few people who do.