Over the years, I’ve noticed a curious pattern in both corporate and public sector development projects: things often get done in a hilariously backwards order. Here are a few real-life examples I’ve come across:
Example 1:
A website renewal project kicks off. Only after the new website is finished do they decide to create a brand book. Why this way around? Why not define the brand first – its tone, visual identity, and message – and then design the website to match?
Example 2:
A company decides to produce a brand video – even though their website is still in draft mode. AI tools then scrape content from these half-finished pages to generate the script. The result? A video completely off-brand. Time and money down the drain.
Example 3:
Development and performance review discussions must be held before the new strategy is launched – because that’s how it’s marked in the annual calendar. But once the strategy is finally published, you’d need to redo all those discussions. That feels redundant, so they skip round two… and nobody actually starts following the new strategy.
Example 4:
First, the annual budget is finalized. Then comes the strategy. When it’s time to implement the strategy – surprise! – there’s no money allocated to it.
Doing things in the right order isn’t just a matter of logic. It’s the key to impact. When the sequence makes sense, you save time, resources, and avoid major frustration – and most importantly, you get results.
Have you noticed similar situations? Share your stories! These backwards workflows are more common than we’d like to admit – but once we fix them, we unlock real strategic power.
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Maarika Maury is the CEO of Kissconsulting, a strategy, brand, and transformation coach, and the creator of the “Strategialoikka” (Strategy Leap) method.
P.S. I’m currently writing a book about strategic change capacity. If you have stories – funny missteps or brilliant successes – I’d love to hear them. Let’s talk: maarika@kissconsulting.fi / +358 50 590 0412.
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