Success isn't just about doing more and moving faster. Providing optimal value in your discipline is about focusing your time and effort on the right things in the right amounts for your organizational or career level. This means operating effectively within different contexts. I like to visualize these contexts as “altitudes’’ that we need to shift between throughout our day. From lowest-level to highest: the technical, the tactical, the strategic, and the political. These altitudes are not skill sets, but contexts to which we allocate our time and effort, and understanding the proportions in which we should focus on each one is key to:
- Providing the exact right value at your organizational or career level.
- Understanding the exact right value to expect from subordinates, and to coach them to achieve it.
- Understanding how to show that you’re ready for a promotion, and how your role changes when you do.
The Technical
At the lowest level, the Technical, we are performing hands-on tasks. This should not be confused with “tech” or “technology,” but rather should be associated with working to generate some sort of deliverable, whether it be a project requirements document (PRD) for a Product Manager, an organization roadmap for a Program Manager, or a Software Developer coding a new feature. All disciplines have a “technical” level. This altitude is about output, or creating something of value to the delivery process.
The Tactical
The next higher level, the Tactical, concerns itself with the orchestration of one or more work streams (e.g., one or more people working on an effort) and their dependencies. In software development, this will involve everything from refining a backlog, planning and executing a sprint, various levels of quality testing, all the way to deploying a new release to the user. In book publishing, this might involve editing a manuscript, typesetting, cover design, all the way to distribution. This altitude is about delivery, or coordinating collective processes and resources to optimally deliver value.
The Strategic
At the penultimate level, the Strategic, we systematically determine goals and develop comprehensive plans aligned with those goals. While the lower two levels are about how and the “why of the how,” the Strategic is about what and the “why of the what.” That “why” will usually include business analytics, marketing research, user experience research, and the well-informed assumptions born of deep experience. This altitude is about achievement, or determining the optimal path to achieving business objectives.
The Political
It’s a professionally immature attitude to “hate corporate politics,” associating it only with its worst expression: some selfish and underhanded games we must play in order to succeed. Intention is important, and at its best, the Political is about an appreciation that we all have our own goals or interpret corporate goals according to our own biases, but it behooves us to align our goals with those of others in a way that benefits us all, especially within an organization. This altitude is about synergy, or building relationships through respect, establishing common ground, and working toward greater benefit.
Changing Altitudes
The different organizational levels (or ranks) within the same discipline should allocate their time across these four altitudes according to their responsibilities and expertise. For instance, a senior software developer might spend most of their time on technical tasks while contributing a finite amount of time to tactical planning (typically through Scrum events), but will engage in strategic planning and political networking minimally. Conversely, a CTO will primarily operate at the strategic and political levels, rarely (if ever in an enterprise environment) dropping into the tactical or technical.
Now, not everyone will agree with the distributions here. All maps are generalizations of the terrain, most are subjective, and by their very nature none are perfect. As with recipes, you should salt and pepper to taste. What's important is that there are distributions. Different roles need to operate more or less in different contexts. Leaders, in particular, typically have to learn to adeptly change altitudes in order to “face the fight where it happens,” context switching as needed. This is particularly true in smaller companies or startups where senior leadership might need to be more hands-on, or in enterprises in which a leader might need to cover for the lack of competence of more junior leaders. A leader might have to dive into the tactical and even technical details just to get sh… things done. For instance, a startup’s technical founder/co-founder might distribute her time initially with focus primarily on the technical and strategic altitudes. Or a VP with an underperforming Director might need to descend into the Tactical a bit more often to mitigate missing competencies and coach the Director and his direct reports in proper delivery.
You’re the pilot.
Mastering the art of operating at different altitudes and understanding the degree to which you dedicate your time and energies to each is key to maximizing your value to your superiors, your organization, and your users, customers, or clients. By understanding when and how to shift between technical, tactical, strategic, and political levels, you can optimize your performance and lead your team more effectively. Embrace the fluidity required to navigate these altitudes, and you can not only elevate your own career but also contribute to the overall success of your organization, especially those you lead. Pull up when you can, dive when you need, and don’t forget to "kick the tires and light the fires".
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