Playing Chess with Companies, May 25 2018

In this workshop, we examine the subject of situational awareness within business, explaining why it matters and why most companies lack it. We explore how to map a competitive environment, how it can be exploited, how practices evolve and how certain types of disruptive change can be anticipated and defended against. Drawing on examples from heavy engineering projects, to governments, to software companies such as Canonical, Simon demonstrates how mapping can be used to rapidly change the fortunes of a project, reduce costs and outplay competitors with startling results.

Topics include:

• Why most companies have little or no actual strategy
• Why no one-size-fits-all solution exists (eg agile all the things, Six Sigma all the things, outsource all the things)
• How the core problem is poor situational awareness
• The concept of mapping a business, the main patterns of economic change and how they can be used to your advantage