This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

331 tools for strategic thinking in one course: 17 downloadable tool files, 245 ready-to-use templates, question lists, procedures, checklists and AI prompts, 66 models and methods, and 3 services shown on screen.

Open a lecture, take the tool, use it on your own plan.

Why strategy stays a slide

A team spends two days in a nice hotel, writes ten priorities on a flipchart and goes back to the same work. Three months later nobody can name the priorities. Strategy fails in three places: the thinking behind it was not tested, it was never turned into requirements and numbers, and people were not brought along. Each of the three has its own method.

What changes after this course

You test your own reasoning before you defend it. You run a planning process that ends with choices, not with a wish list. You translate a goal into a documented requirement and a process someone can follow. You have a small set of indicators that show whether the strategy works, and a rhythm of goals the team reviews every week. And you lead people through the change instead of announcing it.

What is inside: 331 tools, counted file by file

You do not have to take this number on trust. Open any lecture and read its description: every tool inside is listed there by name.

• 17 downloadable tool files: a KPI or OKR decision sheet, a PRD template, an elicitation tracker, a stakeholder register, an interview script, two requirements traceability matrices, a user stories and acceptance criteria template, a process analysis, a process improvement proposal, a change impact analysis, a scope change log and KPI dashboards
• 245 ready-to-use tools inside the presentations:
• 53 templates and sample documents: strategic plan structure, decision presentation, strategy implementation plan, OKR planning
• 48 question lists and scripts: strategic plan review, cognitive bias detection, performance metric discovery, OKR reflection
• 47 step-by-step procedures and workflows: five-step strategic planning, decision-making process, OODA loop, OKR cycle
• 44 checklists: thinking quality, mission statement, KPI quality, OKR quality
• 23 scorecards, rubrics and matrices: SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, risk probability-impact matrix, CARVER matrix
• 18 ready AI prompts: business problem statement generation, five whys analysis, requirements prioritization, TO-BE improvement analysis
• 9 formulas and metric sets: process efficiency metrics, performance indicator metrics, workplace performance metric map, business analyst performance metrics
• 3 other working tools: Cynefin framework, MoSCoW prioritization, value-added activity classification
• 66 models and methods explained with examples: scenario planning, Business Model Canvas, balanced scorecard, management by objectives
• 3 services shown on screen: Microsoft Power BI, Tableau and Google Forms

Where the tools are

• Thinking clearly (2 sections, 45 tools). Objectivity, argument, cognitive bias, sources, decision models.
• Strategic planning and the strategy session (2 sections, 54 tools). The five-step model, current state, the session, turning strategy into action.
• From a business problem to requirements and processes (2 sections, 116 tools). Problem framing, elicitation, documentation, process modelling, systems thinking. 16 of the 17 tool files are here.
• KPIs (3 sections, 64 tools). Success factors, designing and displaying indicators, the three-step process.
• OKR (2 sections, 43 tools). Fundamentals, launch, running the cycle, reviewing results.
• Leading change (2 sections, 32 tools). Why change fails, Kotter's model, emotion, vision, making it stick.

Who is teaching

I am Mike, the #1 HR instructor on Udemy, with 1,800,000+ course enrollments from 170,000 students, and the author of about 200 books on Amazon. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn and worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank across 20 years in HR. I hold PHRi, SHRM-CP and HCI sHRBP certifications and represent HRCI in Eastern Europe. I am also a founder and lead the strategy of my own academy.

At Wargaming we thought so highly of Richard Rumelt's book on strategy that we ordered a private print run of 500 copies in a company cover and gave it to all managers in three offices. The company built much of its strategy on its principles. And here is how I explain metrics. At home I bought a hygrometer and saw the humidity was 30 percent, which is low. I already owned a humidifier, but without the number it just stood there. Now I look at the hygrometer, see the humidity fall and refill it. Once a metric appeared, I started to manage the thing. In a company it works the same way.

How to use the course

Start with the Start Here lecture and its decision sheet. Then go in order: thinking, planning, requirements, KPIs, OKR, change. Section and lecture titles show how many tools are inside, and each lecture description lists them by name.

What is included

• 38 lectures across 14 sections, 18.5 hours
• 53 downloadable resources: 17 tool files and the lecture presentations
• 331 tools across the lessons, ready to copy into your own work
• Lifetime access to all materials
• Active instructor support in the Q&A section
• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

Where to start

Open the Start Here lecture, download the KPI or OKR decision sheet and decide which of the two fits the goal you are working on now. Enrol now and start your first lesson today.