Digital Strategy & Execution - The "What Sandwich"

I try to use analogies that help stakeholders get their heads around some of the abstract concepts floating around in a marketing environment. Strategy and its proper relationship to Execution is one of them.

This is not a post on the elusive definition of strategy. Nor an attempt to define the difference between Strategy (with a big "S") vs. strategy (with a small "s") or Strategery or any of the other silliness that surrounds this term.

I like to think of the relationship between Strategy and Execution as a "What Sandwich" or, more specifically, a sandwich comprised of "What" needs to be built, that lives between 2 slices of "How" objectives will be achieved and "How" the features and functions will be executed.. The sandwich is made like this:

I'll leave the deeper question of "Why" for another time or other minds.