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In the midst of the pandemic last year, Boise State initiated a multi-month effort to develop a new strategic plan. From the many engagement sessions and listening tours, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee developed a vision, mission, and goals that will write Boise State's next chapter.

Distilled into five goals, the University's proposed Strategic Plan will expand and implement leading-edge innovations, enhance the comprehensive student experience, develop research that positively impacts lives, foster a thriving community, and enhance pathbreaking interdisciplinary programs and activities. The constituent experience plays a supporting and enabling role in our Strategic Plan, and this month we launched a project to improve enterprise communications.  The first ten weeks of the project is meant to discover and document our current marketing structure, processes, strategy, and systems. 

Although the discovery process may not be the most enjoyable process for a technology-centric person, it is a necessary part of project planning.  Older versions of the Project Management Body of Knowledge referred to the modern discovery process as "determine company culture and existing systems" and "collect processes, procedures and historical information".  I must admit, I like the term "discovery" in the context of the early phases of a project; however, I can't help but think of a famous comedian's diatribe on euphemisms, which are the words that are used as a mild or indirect substitutes for ones that would now be considered to be too harsh or blunt.  In this instance, we replace determining culture and collect historical information with "discovery".  However, I'm here to say that discovery is not to be mistaken for blithely charting a course without headwinds or swirling seas.  Rather, attempting to discover means foraging into the land of institutional culture where sharing information can be seen as the road to ceding control over an individual or team's domain.  A tough road, this project management and constituent experience path.

The success of our project to effectively target and coordinate communications from our institution is a sizable undertaking that will require patience, persistence, project management chops, change management finesse, and a fair amount of trust - much like successfully implementing the University's Strategic Play. I count myself lucky to have a chance to support both initiatives, and will share our experiences in future blog posts.