When you start the Strategic Planning process, look first to the past. This will frame your thinking when planning for the future.
If you do not keep in mind what has gone before you may be trapped by mistakes or misjudgments based on inaccurate understanding of what has transpired before.
What is the CAD history at your firm?
Where you there as part of the creation of the CAD environment? If not, then you need to know what happened before you arrived. Was the last overseer a good manager? Did they set the right perspectives on CAD? Do you need to reshape the thinking of most staffers?
From a historical perspective, how quickly does the firm embrace new technology?
Are they early adopters? Laggards? You need to know what has happened in the past so that you don’t move too quickly or too slowly when introducing new technology.
In the past, what challenges did your firm face with technology and how did it handle those challenges? Was it rife with frustration? Did people want to go back to the old way. Has it abandoned efforts in the face of struggles? Was it fierce in its moving forward with adaptation to new methods?
What have you learned through past changes?
If you have been at the firm for some time, then the history of transition is part of your history. What have you learned from it? Where there landmines that you stepped on? What would you do to avoid them the next time? What worked and what failed? Who could you enlist from the past that might help you in the next phase of your planning and progress.
By taking a short or long look back you can avoid the pitfalls of misalignment in your firms Strategic Planning.