The American Society for Engineering Education is embracing agile strategy as it redesigns the association for the 21st Century. Here's a Q&A sheet that will be available to members as they convene for their annual meeting in Seattle in June, 2015.

1. Questions and
Answers about
ASEE’s Agile
Strategy Process
What is Strategic Doing?
Strategic Doing is an agile strategy
process designed for open, loosely
connected networks. The discipline
teaches people how to form
collaborations quickly, move them
toward measurable outcomes, and make
adjustments along the way.
Who uses Strategic Doing?
Strategic Doing is currently being
incubated at Purdue University. Purdue
is now applying the discipline widely in a
variety of situations, including
accelerating university engagement,
building clusters, and designing complex
workforce development collaborations.
In the past two years, Purdue has been
partnering with Stanford and
VentureWell to apply Strategic Doing in
the Pathways to Innovation initiative.
Pathways, funded by NSF, is working
with 37 universities to redesign their
undergraduate engineering programs
to integrate innovation and
entrepreneurship.
How is Strategic Doing di!erent than
traditional strategic planning?
Strategic Doing is set of simple rules
that focuses on moving into action
quickly to learn what works. The
discipline assumes that strategy is
emergent, and that the best way to
de!ne strategy is to learn by doing.
In contrast, strategic planning is a
management discipline designed for
hierarchical organizations. It is a linear
process that can be both costly and
frustrating for associations like ASEE.
Where strategic planning emerged from
traditional management disciplines of the
1960’s, Strategic Doing is grounded in
newer organizational theories around
complexity leadership and Appreciative
Inquiry.
Why did the ASEE Board turn to
Strategic Doing?
The challenges facing ASEE are complex,
and no one can tell us precisely what
ASEE will look like in !ve years. But the
Board feels that the best way to shape
ASEE’s future involves tapping the
energies and expertise of the
membership. Strategic Doing is an asset-
based approach to strategy that
encourages open participation and
leadership guidance. It is the type of
strategy discipline that seems ideally
suited for ASEE.
OK. I’m intrigued. How can I learn more?
Come to the Strategic Doing Listening
Session | Tuesday, June 16 |
12:30-2:00PM | Exhibit Hall 4 ABC.
You can also contact any Board member
or send an e-mail to Ed Morrison at
Purdue. He can brief you. Connect to Ed
at edmorrison@purdue.edu.