Execution: Don’t Mistake Motion for Progress
Let’s discuss frameworks and successful strategists in order to optimize capabilities to get sh!t done.
Execution is strategy’s less sexy, but equally important conjoined twin; it is the yin to strategy’s yang; neither can survive without the other. So why is it that strategy receives so much more love from business leaders and authors? I argue it’s because less is known about execution. Few people know how to do it well, and fewer have the discipline and relentless focus to truly master it.
This is a problem because strategies are worthless without action.
More than that, the ability to execute is paramount to individual and team performance. As a product leader and former US Intelligence Officer, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside and leading people who’ve mastered the art of execution, which I define as the degree to which one can initiate movement, mobilize others, and sustain action to take an idea from generation to conclusion. These people are the operational equivalent of the 10x engineer.
Luckily, the ability to execute flawlessly can be taught, and I’m going to teach it to you in this article. Here’s what you can expect to learn:
- Part 1. I’ll introduce you to the Operations Order (OPORD), a structured, yet flexible planning document that will help you organize your thoughts and mobilize the support of others.
- Part 2. You’ll learn about the Troop Leading Procedures (TLPs), a replicable eight-step framework used by the US military that systematically guides you through the execution process.
- Part 3. Lastly, I’ll introduce you to the behaviors world-class execution practitioners (whom I refer to Executors) possess. After all, if the core behaviors aren’t in place, the frameworks won’t do you much good.
One other note before we get started. This is not a short article, but every word is important. If you’re looking for catchy headings and short sections with hollow subtext, this article isn’t for you. Mastering the Art of Execution requires going beneath the surface; it requires discipline and focus; it certainly cannot be learned from a bulleted list one can skim while walking to a meeting or while stuck in traffic. With that, let’s begin.
The Operations Order (OPORD)
An OPORD is a planning document used by the military to plan and execute operations at every level of command — from small teams up to the Department of Defense. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t the military extremely bureaucratic, and aren’t bureaucracies notoriously slow? Yes, and yes! But these truths showcase the power of the OPORD. This framework enables one of the world’s largest bureaucracies to deploy forces and equipment across the globe, on short notice, in support of humanitarian and military operations (often in austere environments). If an OPORD can enable a behemoth like the DoD to move fast, it can help you, too!
Components of an OPORD
A military OPORD is comprised of five sections: Situation, Mission, Execution, Service Support, and Command & Signal. Each section has several subsections. To make the framework more appropriate for business, I’ve adjusted the last two sections. Below is an updated outline and a brief explanation of each. For a more detailed treatment, including details about each subsection, see this OPORD template.
I. Situation
Sets the stage for your proposed solution and plan; tells your stakeholders why they should care about your initiative.
a. Background
b. Problem / Complication
II. Mission
Details your desired outcome(s), a high-level overview of how you’re going to bring them about, and explains what success looks like.
a. Mission Statement
b. Goal(s) / Measures of Success
III. Execution
Describes how you’re going to do what you said you were going to do; this section is where the rubber meets the road.
a. Solution Analysis
b. Concept of the Operation
c. Timeline & Work Breakdown
IV. Support
Sets expectations across stakeholders to improve organizational alignment.
a. Stakeholder Matrix
b. Communication Channels
c. Coordinating Instructions
V. Risks, Assumptions, Questions
Identifies a) risks and steps for mitigating them; b) assumptions on which your solution is based; and c) open questions and answers that arise along the way.
a. Risk Matrix
b. Assumptions Matrix
c. Questions & Answers
Now that you understand the OPORD, let’s introduce you to the planning process that will guide you through its creation and along your execution journey.
Troop Leading Procedures (TLPs)
The TLP framework is a replicable, systematic process for taking an idea from generation to conclusion. It can be used to plan anything. Seriously. From planning a movie date to launching a major military operation like the Allied invasion of Normandy (yes, Eisenhower used the TLPs — and the OPORD — to kick Hitler’s ass), the framework can be used in any situation. It is comprehensive, adaptable, and easy to use. It is your secret weapon.
Step 1. Receive the mission
Step one is the preamble to action, it’s the task you’re given from a boss, an idea you want to make a reality, or a problem you want to solve. Let’s use a concrete example to show you what I mean. Let’s say you’re a product manager at TinselToken, a Web3 video streaming company. Your CEO tells you she wants to launch the platform in the UK within six months to increase revenue. Hence, your mission:
Launch TinselToken in the UK within six months to increase revenue.
Step 2. Issue a warning order (WARNO)
With your mission in hand, you do not want to wait until you have a plan before communicating to stakeholders. You want to let them know what’s afloat as soon as possible. To do so, issue a Warning Order (WARNO). As you probably guessed, a WARNO is used to warn people of an impending action so they can prepare accordingly. In other words, it’s a formal heads-up. At a minimum, your WARNO should include 1) what is happening, 2) why it’s happening, 3) implications, and 4) what people should expect next. In our case:
WARNO — This morning, the CEO directed product and engineering to launch TinselToken in the UK within six months to grow revenue. I do not have additional details at this time. However, I do know that this is going to require teams to deprioritize other work. I am alerting you because you and / or your team will be involved, and I wanted to give you an early warning so you could prepare. I will send you a tentative project plan by the end of the week and will schedule a kickoff meeting next week.
As you’ll notice in our example, I used W-A-R-N-O at the beginning of the communication. I recommend you do so, too, since it grabs people’s attention, letting them know that something important is afoot and that they need to prepare for it.
Step 3. Make a tentative plan
Now that you’ve alerted your stakeholders, you’ve bought yourself time to analyze the situation and lay out an initial plan. There are many useful problem solving and planning frameworks for doing this. The military uses the Military Decision Making Process (you can learn more about that and the broader Joint Planning Process here). However, I do not recommend you use that framework because some components are not suitable for business scenarios. Instead, I use the Kepner-Tregoe (K-T) problem-solving framework below (see this article for a more comprehensive treatment).
1. Situation Analysis — What is going on?
2. Problem Analysis — What problem(s) will we need to solve? What are their causes?
3. Decision Analysis — What are potential solutions? What’s the best solution, and why do we think it’s the best solution?
4. Potential Problem Analysis — What could go wrong? What would we expect to see before things went south?
With the above analyses in hand, it’s time to put them into your OPORD. Luckily, the components of K-T plug in nicely. Here’s how:
1. Situation = K-T Situation and Problem Analyses
2. Mission = Copy from Step 1 of the TLPs
3. Execution = K-T Decision Analysis
4. Support = K-T Situation Analysis
5. Risks, Assumptions, Questions = K-T Potential Problem Analysis
A few things to keep in mind for your tentative plan. The obvious one is that it is a tentative plan. It is not final. You do not — and should not — have answers to all your questions. Instead, document the minimum detail your stakeholders need to prepare. You’ll have time in Steps 5 and 6 to gather data and finalize your plan.
Step 4. Start necessary movements
This step runs concurrently with the preceding ones and should be informed by your WARNO. For example, if we sent our WARNO to our Legal team — which we absolutely should have — the implied tasks for that team would have been to gather requirements for GDPR compliance, since that is a requirement for the UK. Having your Legal team taking this action concurrently with your planning process will help you move faster; it will also provide useful data for your plan.
Step 5. Reconnoiter
Reconnoiter is a fancy word for reconnaissance and is where you gather more information to test the assumptions you made in your initial plan, answer outstanding questions, and fill in other details. For example, you may have made assumptions about dependencies, available resources, the competitive landscape, and the size of the opportunity. You’ll want to conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses to fill these gaps before completing your plan.
Step 6. Complete the plan
Speaking of completing your plan, you need to input the data you compiled into your OPORD. Next, share it with key stakeholders to get their input and buy-in before publishing your final plan.
Step 7. Publish the OPORD
Disseminate the final OPORD to your stakeholders. At this point, there shouldn’t be major surprises, since you issued a WARNO and sent your draft OPORD to stakeholders for review. Regardless, it’s wise to host a meeting to walk the team through it. As you do so, focus on telling a high-level story of how the project is going to get done. Don’t go deep into the minutia of each individual task; you can schedule separate conversations to do that.
Step 8. Supervise and refine
Do not leave success up to chance. Just because you produced a thoughtful plan doesn’t guarantee people will execute on it. More likely, your plan will change during execution because, as you progress, you’ll learn more about what works and doesn’t, and you’ll undoubtedly be faced with obstacles and changes that will require new plans and solutions.
Luckily, the OPORD is built to accommodate changes by using fragmentary orders (FRAGOs). FRAGOs are changes to the base plan. They are communicated to all stakeholders and are appended to the base plan. It’s not uncommon for a base plan to have dozens of FRAGOs.
Going back to our example, let’s say your CEO expedites the timeline for launch to beat a competitor to market. You would communicate this change by adjusting the timeline in your base plan and documenting the FRAGO in the appendix. You’d also shoot an email or Slack to your team alerting them of the change. Like seeing W-A-R-N-O at the beginning of correspondence, the presence of the bold letters F-R-A-G-O is powerful. When your team sees them, they know a deliberate change has been made, which helps with alignment.
Troop Leading Procedures (TLP)
TLPs are a powerful tool to help you execute on just about anything and do so quickly. To speed things up, you can conduct some steps concurrently, and you should feel free to leave out those that don’t make sense for your situation. The TLP framework is a tool to help you get things done; your actions should always serve your ends, never the tool.
One mistake people often make is they spend too much time planning and not executing. Not only will this upset your stakeholders, since they are relying on your plan to do their job, but it often leads to lackluster results. A good rule of thumb is the 1/3, 2/3 rule, which means you should spend no more than 1/3 of your timeline planning (going from steps 1–8 in the TLPs) and 2/3 of your time executing. To figure this timeline out, you can work backwards from your due date, ensuring you leave 2/3 of your timeline to the execution phase.
Behaviors of Master Executors
Execution behaviors are those possessed by the most elite executors I’ve worked with in my career. Do you need to possess all these behaviors to excel at execution? No, but you do need the first three. The rest can be worked on over time as you master the art of execution.
1. Executors are starters
In sports, there are starters and backups who ride the bench. But business is different. There is no bench. When your company hired you, they did so because they wanted you to be a starter. They didn’t hire you to play back up. Accordingly, executors don’t ride the bench. They don’t wait around for someone else to pick up the slack. They are action-oriented. They are in the game for every play, and they play from bell to bell. They embody Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
— Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States of America
2. Executors are owners
If an executor sees something that needs to get done, they do it. You’ll never hear them say “That’s not my job.” When they make mistakes, they own them. Oftentimes, they take responsibility for things that aren’t entirely their fault, realizing that owning failure — even partial ones — is a golden opportunity to show humility, build trust, and learn. It also helps the team redirect their attention back to solutions, instead of wasting time dwelling on the past.
3. Executors are activators
Executors know how to activate themselves and others to get things done. They do so through their other worldly enthusiasm and ability to articulate compelling plans. They connect ideas to action. They make it look effortless, even enjoyable. Activators are easy to spot, even outside of business. Think about the friend who is always planning activities. The one who comes up with plans, generates buy-in from other friends, and drives the plan forward by making it easy for others to participate. They arrange transportation, lodging, and dinner reservations. All you have to do is show up. These friends are activators, they are also executors.
4. Executors are chefs
Executors have a recipe book chock full of mental models and frameworks to address any problem or opportunity. When faced with a situation, they say to themselves “I’ve seen this before, and I know exactly what to do.” They pull tried-and-true frameworks and mental models out of their recipe books and move 10-times faster than anyone else because they’ve done it before. They easily apply their knowledge and experience from past problems to solve new ones.
5. Executors are jiu-jitsu masters
Like a jiu-jitsu master using their opponents’ advances against them, executors re-direct the momentum and energy of their problems toward solutions. Executors aren’t afraid of confrontation, but they view it as a waste of time and energy because it detracts from the task at hand. They sidestep or delay less serious problems and work around those they must solve, instead of hard headedly trying to submit them to their will.
In other words, executors turn problems into opportunities.
6. Executors are optimistic realists
You’ll never hear an executor scream “The Sky is Falling!!!” You’ll never find an executor in the corner whispering disparaging remarks about the company, their boss, or anyone on the team. You’ll never hear them say “I can’t.” They are repulsed when people tell them that something cannot be done. They rather die trying, in the arena, than stand on the sidelines, because the shame of never trying is worse than death. Down by 30 points with 2 minutes left on the clock, executors still believe they can win, and they make everyone else believe it, too.
7. Executors are cool, calm, and collected
Executors are not excitable. They view emotion in the face of a problem as an unnecessary distraction that prolongs a solution. While others are running around yelling “Fire!!”, executors are thinking about how they are going to escape the fire or put it out, and then they swiftly proceed with whichever course of action makes the most sense.
8. Executors are never satisfied. Ever.
Executors sit in a habitually uncomfortable space where they feel like they are never doing enough. They don’t use this discomfort and dissatisfaction to create unnecessary work, however. Instead, they use it to continuously monitor, adjust, and improve their plans and actions. Even after masterful execution of a seemingly impossible task, they’re unsatisfied. In fact, this is when they may be at their lowest because they know they must raise the bar next time or risk disappointing themselves. They know how much energy it will take to best their previous effort. Executors are always looking for ways to do things better, to eliminate unnecessary work, and achieve better results.
9. Executors are masters of prioritization
Executors cut through the noise to identify the most important and urgent activities. They understand what’s important to the business and how to use their team’s strengths in ways that have outsized impact. They understand the likely impact of a given task and its relative cost. They focus more attention on the things they can control or influence than they do on things outside their control. They believe in the mantra: Control the controllable.
10. Executors conserve energy
Legendary statesman and two-time prime minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, was once asked by a boy (who would later become one of Churchill’s greatest biographers) to what he credited his immense success. Without a beat, Churchill responded, “Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.” This from perhaps one of the most productive humans in history, a man who helped the world beat back the Nazi menace and published more than 40 books during his lifetime.
Like Churchill, executors don’t waste their energy when they don’t have to. They don’t mistake motion for progress. They don’t feel compelled to busy their hands to appear productive. They only spend energy on meaningful activities, and they do so in an efficient manner because they know that, like time, energy is limited and extremely valuable.
Get More Done and Have A Greater Impact
Strategy and execution are equally important, just as the guidance system and engines are to a jet airplane. In this case, strategy is the airplane’s guidance system, telling it where to go, while execution is the engines propelling it into the air and toward its destination. Both are important. Without a guidance system, the airplane will go somewhere, but probably not where you want it to go; without the engines, it can’t even get off the ground.
While much has been written about strategy, less has been documented about how to execute well and its importance in carrying out strategies. This article has introduced frameworks and behaviors that will help you match your winning strategy with the action it needs to become a reality. These tools will also help you stand out in your organization by helping you get more done and have a greater impact. My hope is you’ll use them to master the art of execution and become a full-fledged executor.
Special thanks to Tremis Skeete, Executive Editor at Product Coalition for the valuable input which contributed to the editing of this article.
