We're parallel thinkers, so when people can see things at the same time, it's helpful. Shaker describes a typical war room method. First, the strategy planning process must be laid out. The second step is defining the optimal task, or best case scenario, by asking what should be done to bring about the best possible outcome. Third, participants identify their competitor's task by attempting to predict what opponents might do to prevent a company from achieving its set goal.
Competitors can be other companies in the same field or special interest groups.
The fourth phase is identifying critical junctures during the designated timeline to determine when decisions must be made. At this point, responsibility for specific decisions is assigned to individuals so that they are authorized to take action at the appropriate time. A military agency determining an investment strategy for new weapons systems is one illustration of this technique in action. The war room team would first identify the threats that the new weapons will defend against. Getting down to specifics, the group would then determine the requirements for the weapons and what concepts are available to address those requirements.