Strategies has to have teeth
29 Sep 2026
Otherwise it’s just a poster on a wall, that we can look at and move on. And the teeth will bite and set boundaries. It will exclude ideas, people and partnerships, but on the other side make the decision maker stronger and meaningful. Yes, it hurts to say no. And sure, it can be a struggle to go up against set boundaries again and again. But without enforced rules we are but a kit dancing in a hurricane (Mr. Bond).
As you may know over the years Lego expanded and expanded, until it almost imploded. What saved it was boundaries and getting back to basics. Having decisions that had teeth. Full story here
https://www.ceciliaweckstrom.com/the-tenon/why-your-principles-dont-survive-writing-down/ and
https://www.ceciliaweckstrom.com/the-tenon/the-rule-that-could-kill-a-good-idea/
As you might know I have opinions about test strategies. I have been in the enterprise testing space the last 20 years. To tame your test strategy, the homework is:
As you may know over the years Lego expanded and expanded, until it almost imploded. What saved it was boundaries and getting back to basics. Having decisions that had teeth. Full story here
https://www.ceciliaweckstrom.com/the-tenon/why-your-principles-dont-survive-writing-down/ and
https://www.ceciliaweckstrom.com/the-tenon/the-rule-that-could-kill-a-good-idea/
As you might know I have opinions about test strategies. I have been in the enterprise testing space the last 20 years. To tame your test strategy, the homework is:
- What are one or two key objectives for your stakeholder
- What one or two thing do you prioritize and shift from one-off to best-practice?
- Does it have teeth
More on taking the test strategy here: https://www.o2sn.dk/2026/09/03/taming-the-test-strategy-dragon/
Jesper Ottosen
Principal Consultant
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Jesper has been around the MoT community from the start, frequently passing by the Club and Slack. For more than 10 years he has provided 300+ blogposts on all things testing. 🌻
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