Execution Is Everything

The 7 principles of strong execution culture.

Andrew Yeung

May 9, 2022

Ideas are cheap, execution is everything.

It doesn’t matter how good the strategy is - it’s meaningless if it can’t be executed well.

Great execution is enforced by strong execution culture. But what does it really mean to have a strong execution culture?

7 key principles of strong execution culture

Marty Cagan, product management leader, and Partner at Silicon Valley Product Group outlines the 7 key principles:

Culture of urgency – people feel like they are in war-time and that if they don’t find a way to move fast then bad things could happen
Culture of high-integrity commitments – teams understand the need for (and power of) commitments, but they also insist on high-integrity commitments
Culture of empowerment – teams feel like they have the tools, resources and the permission to do whatever is necessary to meet their commitments
Culture of accountability – one way or another people and teams feel a deep responsibility to meet their commitments; accountability also implies consequences – not necessarily being terminated except in extreme and repeated situations – more likely consequences to their reputations among their peers
Culture of collaboration – while team autonomy and empowerment is important, teams understand their even higher need to work together to accomplish many of the biggest and most meaningful objectives
Culture of results – is the focus on output or is the focus on results?
Culture of recognition – teams often take their cues from what is rewarded and what is accepted. Is it just the team that comes up with the great new idea that gets rewarded, or the team that delivered on a brutally tough commitment? And what is the message if missing a commitment is seen as easily excusable?

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Simplify put – as a leader, you should:

Encourage your team to take action with urgency – and to focus on impact rather than inputs or outputs
Foster an environment of teamwork, collaboration, and recognition
Enable your team by providing the proper tools, resources, and guidance they need to succeed

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