The Smart Organization

"We define being smart as making good strategic decisions. Acting smart is the activity of effectively carrying out those decisions."

"When top management hones its strategic decision-making skills even slightly, the leverage at the end of the value chain can be huge."

"Technology strategy is a vital component of corporate and business strategy that designates the role technology will play in the future."

"To understand R&D decision making, we need to make a distinction between operational and strategic decisions."

"Regular self-examination is the best prescription for quality decision making."

"One good way to evaluate and improve the quality of the frame is to expose the problem to people with different points of view."

"Creativity is not as mysterious as it seems."

"Strategic decision making requires information about possibilities that are fundamentally uncertain"

"The use of multiple metrics often confuses decision makers."

"The objective of a logically correct reasoning process is to organize and analyze inputs, sort through complexity, and scientifically understand which choice is likely to create the greater value."

"Commitment means that decision makers will provide agreed-on resources and foster broad understanding of the decision's strategic intent."

"Some of these components direct us in making good decisions. Others indicate how we can organize for decision quality. Still others address the issue of improving decision quality."

"The best companies combine economic and technical evaluations, which include market potential and technical hurdles."

"Business and R&D organizations may actively resist adoption of best practices when those practices threaten to upset established relationships involving power, prestige, or control."

"We worked with the Quality Director's Network of the Industrial Research Institute in a benchmarking study of companies that were good at specific best practices."

"The key to implementing best practices is the organizational context."

"Three principles are related to achieving purpose: Value Creation Culture, Creating Alternatives, and Continual Learning."

"Embracing Uncertainty, is about recognizing what is unknown, and being able to understand, communicate, and manage this lack of knowledge"

"Mobilizing resources means determining and taking strategic actions to achieve the organization's purpose in the face of a confusing environment."

"Technology strategy is meaningless in isolation. It makes sense only as an element of business strategy that has determined how technology will be used to renew and expand the business."

"R&D portfolio strategy is a balancing act."

"The way to determine the best strategy for a particular project is through an abbreviated version of the dialogue decision process."

"The processes and principles that support decision quality can be more effective than reorganization in reshaping the culture of the enterprise."