The pace of technology makes it feel impossible to write our 3-Year Picture. How do we define our future strategic targets on the V/TO® when we do not know what capabilities AI will have eighteen months from now?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A common trap for Visionaries is assuming that rapid technological change makes long-term planning obsolete. In reality, a volatile environment makes your 3-Year Picture on the V/TO® more critical than ever. The trick is to focus your strategic planning on what will not change, rather than guessing which software tools will win the market. Your 3-Year Picture should define your future revenue, profit margins, and the qualitative characteristics of your organization. It should not be a technical roadmap. Do not try to predict specific AI features. Instead, paint a clear picture of your organization's capability, market position, and operational leverage. When defining this future state, assume that AI will continuously drive down the cost of routine, transactional tasks. Plan your business strategy around being an indispensable complement to these cheap, automated outputs. Ask yourself what your target market will desperately need three years from now when basic analysis and content generation are essentially free. The answer is usually deep strategic insight, trusted relationships, and complex execution. Once you have painted this high-level destination, let your leadership team worry about the short-term execution. They will use the quarterly planning process and annual Rocks to adjust the specific tools and workflows. By separating your strategic destination from your technical tools, you give your company a stable north star while remaining agile enough to pivot your execution as new technology emerges.