Aqui estão os principais insights do artigo “Crossing the Chasm… Inside Your Organisation”:
- Comunicação de estratégia dentro das organizações segue a lógica do framework Crossing the Chasm: Assim como no marketing, diferentes perfis de colaboradores adotam a estratégia em ritmos e exigem comunicações variadas.
- Segmentos internos para absorção de estratégia:
- Innovators: Co-criadores; entendem o contexto e precisam apenas do direcionamento geral.
- Early Adopters: Líderes visionários; buscam compreender o “porquê” e aplicam no próprio contexto.
- Early Majority: Gestores pragmáticos; precisam traduzir visão em critérios e ações concretas.
- Late Majority: Demandam processos claros, papéis definidos e expectativas explícitas.
- Laggards: Só mudam quando já está operacionalizado no sistema.
- O “chasm” (abismo) está entre Early Adopters e Early Majority: Se a comunicação é só inspiracional, perde os gestores de execução; se é detalhista demais, desmotiva os visionários.
- Estratégia não é comunicada em cascata, mas por difusão: É preciso adaptar periodicidade, nível de detalhe e formato conforme o grupo. Early Adopters buscam informação; Early Majority precisa receber de forma ativa e recorrente.
- Modelo de comunicação em camadas:
- Visão: Narrativa estratégica de alto nível (CEO, board, all-hands).
- Frameworks: Diretrizes para tomada de decisão e critérios de trade-off (diretores, gestores).
- Processos: Fluxos, templates e procedimentos específicos (líderes de time, indivíduos).
- Sistemas: Automatização e integração em ferramentas para garantir adoção até pelos Laggards.
- Desafio para Product Managers: Comunicação efetiva exige formatos diferentes para cada público—não existe um documento único que sirva para todos.
- A importância da repetição e paciência: Early Majority precisa de tempo, repetição e exemplos até realmente internalizar a estratégia.
- “O trabalho só termina quando sua equipe é capaz de explicar a estratégia com as próprias palavras”: O verdadeiro sinal de adoção estratégica é quando as equipes incorporam o racional e aplicam nas decisões do dia a dia.
- Conclusão: Trate sua estratégia como produto e sua organização como o mercado. Para atravessar o abismo, adapte a mensagem, o canal e o ritmo para cada audiência interna, acelerando a adoção e a execução estratégica.
Early Adopters ≠ Everyone
Just as Moore identified distinct customer segments in technology adoption, I've observed the same distinct segments when it comes to how your organisation consumes strategy:
The Innovators - These are your strategy co-creators. They were probably in the room when you developed it. A high-level vision statement is enough for them because they already know the context and reasoning. They can fill in the blanks. Even so - you’re going to want to segment this audience further - your CFO cares about very different things than your CMO, CRO, etc
The Early Adopters - Your visionary department heads and senior contributors. They're comfortable with ambiguity and can work with broad directional guidance. They want to understand the "why" and the strategic rationale, but they don't need you to spell out every detail. They'll figure out how it applies to their domain.
The Early Majority - This is where most strategy communication breaks down. These are your pragmatic managers and team leads. The vision alone isn't enough. They need to see how this strategy translates into concrete decisions, priorities, and actions. They want frameworks, criteria, and detailed guidance they can actually use.
The Late Majority - They need even more specificity. They want to know exactly what this means for their day-to-day work. They need clear processes, defined roles, and explicit expectations. Abstract strategy makes them nervous.
The Laggards - They'll resist until it's operationalised into systems they can't ignore. And that's fine.
The Chasm: Where Strategy Goes to Die
Strategies Don’t Cascade—They Spread
Early Adopters are actively thinking about strategy. They're seeking out information. They attend your strategy sessions, they read your updates, they ask questions. You can communicate with them less frequently because they're pulling information toward themselves.
Early Majority are focused on execution. Strategy competes with everything else demanding their attention. They need you to push information to them, repeatedly, in different formats. A big-bang strategy announcement isn't enough. They need regular reinforcement and clarification.
Crossing the Internal Communication Chasm
For Early Adopters: Vision + Context
- High-level strategic direction and rationale
- Market context and competitive positioning
- Success metrics and outcomes you're driving toward
- Quarterly updates on progress and pivots
- Access to deep-dive discussions and planning sessions
- High level answers to "what does this mean for my function and my goals?"
For Early Majority: Frameworks + Applications
- Detailed frameworks for decision-making
- Concrete examples of how the strategy applies to common situations
- Clear prioritization criteria and trade-off guidance through Principles
- Regular communication (monthly, not quarterly)
- Specific answers to "what does this mean for my team?"
For Late Majority: Processes + Expectations
- Step-by-step processes and workflows
- Clear role definitions and responsibilities
- Explicit performance expectations and measures
- Frequent check-ins and course corrections
- Integration with existing systems and tools
The Layered Communication Strategy
- Level 1: Vision Layer - The high-level strategic narrative. This builds on your vision and is what goes in your strategy deck for the board, your company all-hands, and your external communications. It's inspiring and directional.
- Level 2: Framework Layer - This is where you translate vision into decision-making frameworks. How do we prioritize? What criteria do we use for trade-offs? What does success look like? This is what your department heads and senior managers need.
- Level 3: Process Layer - This is where frameworks become workflows. Specific processes, templates, checklists, and procedures. This is what your team leads and individual contributors need to actually implement the strategy.
- Level 4: System Layer - This is where processes get embedded into tools, dashboards, and automated systems. This is what ensures even the Laggards follow the strategy.
Just like Jesse James Garret’s layers from Elements of User Experience should guide your product thinking, it should also guide your internal comms. You're not replacing one level with the next. You're layering them, maintaining different communication streams for different audiences with different needs.
The Job’s Not Done Until the Team Can Say It Back Understand
(DHH’s quote here seems apt)
We’re not done by the time we’ve ‘solved it’, we’re done by the time we’ve made it simple. ― David Heinemeier Hansson [Rails World 2024 Opening Keynote @16:30]