Tournament
The Match is the tactical loop. The Tournament is the strategic one. Where the Match asks “what can we deliver this cycle?”, the Tournament asks “are we heading in the right direction?”
A typical Tournament spans three to six Matches. A small organization with two-week Matches might run a six-week Tournament. A larger Enterprise with monthly Matches might run a six-month Tournament. The right cadence depends on the organization, and the Enterprise System Lead experiments to find the best fit.
- The Tournament is an Anticipate, Advance and Assess Loop for the entire Enterprise.
- Each Tournament is a fixed period of one Match or a multiple of Matches, but not more than one year, preferably three months.
- With each Tournament the Accountable Representatives:
- assess the Enterprise Product by updating their landscape toward evolution, and
- suggest changes to Ambitions and the Enterprise Backlog, and
- the Enterprise Owner decides on changes to the Ambitions and the Enterprise Backlog.
- The Enterprise System Lead oversees the application of Anticipate, Advance and Assess practices within the Tournament. Planning and execution are covered by the Matches of the Arenas.
The Tournament does not have its own Advance phase. The work happens in the Matches of the Arenas. The Tournament provides the strategic frame: assessment of where the Enterprise Product stands on the evolution path, decisions about which Ambitions to adjust, and which Goals to prioritize in the Enterprise Backlog.
This structure addresses a problem familiar to many executives. They formulate a strategy, but it does not get executed as intended. The reason is structural: strategy cycles do not execute anything. Only Teams in Arenas execute. The Tournament connects the strategic loop with the tactical Matches, ensuring that strategic decisions translate into concrete action. The Enterprise System Lead ensures the right methods and practices are in place to make this connection work.