Executing

Characteristics of Deliberate teams

• Every project starts with a detailed implementation plan. That plan needs to be approved before action can start.
• You regularly review progress against your implementation plans, diligently pursuing milestones and updating the plan as circumstances evolve.
• When something unexpected happens, your team's first instinct is to go back to the original plan and figure out why it wasn't anticipated.

Where Deliberate teams excel

Environments where predictable delivery against defined outcomes is essential, e.g.,

• Long, complex projects with high costs of changing direction, like infrastructure and engineering efforts.
• Efforts that require coordination across multiple stakeholders (both internal and potentially external), like product launches and integrated marketing campaigns.
• Heavily regulated environments with detailed standards like healthcare, finance, or aviation call for meticulous planning to stay in compliance.

Characteristics of Spontaneous teams

• You move (nearly!) immediately from the point at which a decision is made to taking action.
• Many projects don't have a detailed plan defined, with the team opting to "figure it out at as we go."
• For those times when a plan does get defined, it's lightweight (and perhaps rarely referenced again).

Where Spontaneous teams excel

Environments where where immediate action or a rapid "test and learn" approach is required, e.g.,

• Industries or projects where conditions change rapidly, such as startups or crisis response, where the ability to adapt quickly is crucial.
• Situations where the correct path is unknowable (or too expensive or time consuming to discover), and the best way forward is to act, measure, and iterate. This includes the early stages of pure research & development.
• Short-term projects with less complexity that require quick turnaround times, as these settings allow the Spontaneous team to leverage their flexible planning and rapid execution strengths.