How to Use the W Framework

The W Framework

Insight from First Round Review

The root cause of all bad planning is a basic lack of understanding of roles.

Examples include:

• What exactly does each stakeholder need to deliver, and to whom?

• Who sets the timelines?

• Who holds everyone accountable?

So how do you get all teams on the same page?

You’ll need to identify the two groups involved in planning: the Leadership group and the individual Teams.

The Leadership group is generally the company's executive staff (the CEO and direct reports) or the senior leaders of a business unit (VP of Product, VP of Engineering, President of the business unit, etc.).

The Teams are the people executing the actual work. This is your Marketing team, each of the product teams, and the customer service team, etc.

This is the easy part.

The rest of planning is hard.

Planning requires groups to think about different scenarios, align on one future, and then plot a course to get there.

Try using the "W Framework" to ensure everyone moves toward the same future.

1. Context - Leadership shares a high-level strategy with Teams

2. Plans - Teams respond with proposed plans

3. Integration - Leadership integrates into a single plan, and shares it with Teams

4. Buy-in - Teams make final tweaks, confirm buy-in, and get rolling

Using this high-level framework gives you a rough schedule to follow as you dig into your 2024 plans.