I invite you to join a select few (24 to 32) people like yourself, at a Private, Invitation-Only on-line Seminar, to discuss

Strategy Engineering

Background:
You can, as we do, consider ’strategy’ to be the planning and implementation discipline, for anyone, and for all levels of organizational and product planning.
Quite a few of the GilbFest regulars are deeply interested in ’Strategic Planning’, and in its most general form, Strategy planning is what we all do. Clegg cites 90% to 98% Strategy failure rates, so something has to be changed.

Traditional ’strategy’ is exemplified as (Simon, Ansoff, Ackhoff, Martin, Clegg). But as I began to research the Strategy field, I found pervasive bullshit, very little logical method. So I positioned my Planguage and Evo, to do a strategy planning job.

See https://tinyurl.com/StrategyRing.

As usual we welcome all related points of view, case studies, historical experiences, analysis: asking only that they be deep, fun, challenging, useful, and stimulating.

For the 2025 GilbFest we invite you to hold short talks, discuss, and share your writings on your chosen and approved subjects.
Here is a list of topics, and feel free to invent your own angles. Just be deep, funny, creative and interesting.

Among possible subjects and angles are:

1. Experiences: case studies, yours and others of good and bad strategic planning (by whatever name).
2. Analysis: of the state of the art of (strategic) planning.
3. New ideas or methods for planning.
4. Games exercises to get us to think and analyze.
5. Tools for planning: (Marcin!)
6. AI for Planning
7. Anything else you think will benefit our community
8. Logical quantified arguments for an ‘engineering’ approach to planning.
9. Analysis of related methods, not usually called ’strategy’ which might be used.

• Your talk or ‘game' can come from your work, your interests and hobbies, or history. The important thing, as usual, is to find great insights and ideas which most participants will find interesting, hopefully useful, or at least great fun to discuss. If all else fails, at least amuse us! At least give us some glorious visuals
• At the extreme, completely ignore the main theme and do something you know people will appreciate even more than what you could do on the theme
• As usual please send your ideas and almost final products to me (Tom@Gilb.com) so that I can try to inspire you to even greater heights, if possible
• We are not looking for quick guest lectures, to get your ideas out. This is about intellectual networking over the long term. Building professional relationships. So we expect most people will be there most of the time, and give a listen and argument to others, as they would have done unto themselves.
  A few exceptions will be made when we see an opportunity to get extraordinary guests that we know people will appreciate
• The main thing is that participants are thrilled and deeply impressed by your depth and clarity, and innovation. Think TED Talk (see below)
• You, just like all other participants, are required to deliver a 15 minute presentation/workshop/game approved by Tom.
  The remainder of your 30 minute slot is to discuss/challenge what you said.
  There will be a 20 min break between presentations for recovery, more discussion, and networking
• Submit your subject (title and a few lines of ideas) to Tom. The main point of this review is to help you to be interesting, useful and fun for participants, and compatible with other talks. Then submit your presentation detail (slides), for QC and final approval by Tom, before speaking and preferably before we start the Fest. You are allowed to trim, improve and optimize your talk during the seminar.
• If you think of a particular person I might otherwise fail to invite, who is really exciting in the area, or just an exciting deep person, please let me know.

Hashtag: #GilbFest

This is a Give and Take invitation seminar: You present, and you commit to all days (9:00-16:10 UK time), to attend and discuss about what the others present.
If you rather only present and then leave, don't participate! You can do that at regular conferences. GilbFest is different.
Admission is free (once 'accepted' by Tom). Proposed themes and materials must be 'approved' by Tom, mainly to make sure they are appropriate for the group, compatible with others, and at the highest level of quality we can make together. There will be no censorship of ideas, just help to do your best presentation for this group.

The schedule of lectures will be continuously updated and published during the seminar.
The content of the lectures is for participants only. No material is given to anyone not present during the seminar. Of course you may ask a presenter to send you a copy of their materials.

This is the 26^th year of the GilbFest, and participants are typically very deeply knowledgeable, very experienced, and passionate about their subjects. Each presentation is surprisingly stimulating, and being able to network with the group is very useful and rewarding! About 2/3 of participants have attended previously, and love to meet up with such insightful, fun people. They describe it as their annual battery recharging, after living in a crazy real world.

If you are interested, e-mail your proposal (title, outline, eventually slides) to Tom, and when accepted, sign up with Niels. It is possible with a signup before approval, just to show intent, and get it done.
Note that even after signing-up, you will still need a final acceptance by Tom, to present. If you make a sincere proposal effort, but do not get an approved presentation, you might be approved as a non-presenting participant. So you can still heckle the speakers!

Hosts:

Tom and Kai Gilb
tom@gilb.com, kai@gilb.com

and

Niels Malotaux: seminar administration
gilbfest@malotaux.eu

If you want to sign up please email to gilbfest@malotaux.eu
You may get access to the seminar website where you then sign-up yourself (and later can sign-off).

More information is available on the info page.

TED Talk Principles (www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2009/05/making-presentations-in-the-ted-style.html)

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.

This will be the 26^th GilbFest

2025 Strategy Engineering
2024 Don’t Be Evil
2023 Simplicity
2022 Success and preventing Failure
2021 Education
2020 Design
2019 Qualities
2018 Management
2017 Stakeholder Value - Project Success
2016 Simplicity
2015 Innovation
2014 Top Level Critical Requirements and Objectives
2013 Management Methods
2012 Principles
2011 Solution Engineering
2010 Value Delivery
2009 Culture
2008 Risk
2007 Decision making
2006 Value Driven Planning
2005 Review
2004 Evo
2003 Systecture
2002 Requirements
2001 Inspections
2000 Invitation course