Product Operations Program ManagerBarcelona, Cataluña, Spain
I often hear people say they lead “strategic projects” or “strategic programs.” But aren’t all projects initiated because they support or enable execution of the company’s strategy, either directly or indirectly? If a project exists, it should already be aligned with a strategic goal, capability, or outcome.
I’m curious: how do you define a strategic project? Is it simply a label we use, or are there specific criteria, characteristics, or impacts that genuinely distinguish some projects as more strategic than others?
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Preeti GuptaSenior Technical Program ManagerChicago, United States
You are right- technically, all projects support strategy. But I think of “strategic projects” as the ones that truly move the needle: they span functions, have high visibility, and drive outcomes that shape the company’s direction. In my opinion, It’s not just a label—it’s about scale, impact, and alignment with critical priorities Saving Changes...
While all projects should align with or support a company's strategy, many are more tactical in nature rather than direct enablers to the strategic goals. Many portfolios contain similar projects which are uniquely tailored to each customers' needs and while they all support the annual revenue targets, few stand out as the top priorities at the BoD level as being key enablers to the long range business plan. They are tactical in nature. If you canceled one and replaced it with another, the annual balance sheet would look pretty much the same. Fewer projects enable a whole portfolio or capability. They could be entrance into a new business sector, the start of a long term alliance with a customer or supplier, or the first project to use new computing tools for use on later projects. There is something at play much larger than the ROI for the individual project. They are an investment in the future of the company at a macro level rather than merely adding to the balance sheet. These are strategic projects. The first delivery of a new product line for example forms the baseline for future versions tailored to different customers. The non-recurring effort may cost significantly more than the first customer is paying, but that investment enables many projects to follow.
a) Direct alignment with one or more strategic goals
b) Significant cross-functional impacts & stakeholder involvement
c) Usually correlated with a high degree of complexity
Kiron
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Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Great question, and one that exposes a deeper governance issue in our profession.
In principle, every project should already be strategic, because a project, by definition, a temporary vehicle for executing part of the organization’s strategy.
If we feel the need to label some projects as “strategic,” it often means one of two things: • A gap in governance - where project selection is not consistently tied to mission, capabilities, and long-term value. • A gap in perception - where stakeholders don’t clearly see how a project connects to outcomes that matter.
In my work, I distinguish strategic projects not by size or visibility, but by three characteristics: • Strategic coherence: a clear contribution to the organization’s vision/mission rather than operational maintenance. • Capability shaping: the project creates or transforms a capability the organization will rely on in the future. • Long-term value and risk: decisions made in these projects change the system itself, culture, structure, or strategic trajectory.
When these conditions exist, the project is not just executing strategy, it is reshaping the organization’s future coherence and capacity to learn.
Otherwise, “strategic” becomes just a label of status rather than a meaningful governance category. Saving Changes...
Not every project is truly strategic. Some only support operations or efficiency. A project becomes strategic when it directly shapes future capabilities, competitive position, or long term value. It changes how the organisation performs, not just how it functions today. So the term is meaningful, but it should be used carefully and backed by clear impact. Saving Changes...
Program Manager| HARPER SRLSanto Domingo / Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
A project becomes strategic by leverage, not by label. Most projects align with strategy, but only a few shape it, enable it, or materially shift business capability. Strategic projects typically influence competitive positioning, unlock long-term value, or carry enterprise-level risk if they fail. In practice, the term isn’t redundant, but it’s often misused. The real distinction is impact: operational projects support the system; strategic projects change it. Saving Changes...
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Absolutely, leverage and impact are essential lenses.
What I would add is that leverage doesn’t exist in isolation; it emerges from the governance context that selects, prioritizes, and sponsors the work.
In many organizations, we call a project “strategic” only when its impact is visible, but the underlying issue is upstream:
Whether the portfolio is intentionally shaped around coherence, capabilities, and long-term value creation.
From that perspective:
Operational projects support the system.
Strategic projects reshape the system.
But it’s governance that determines how many of each we actually have.
Impact is one part of the distinction, but the deeper question is how well the organization connects project selection with the strategy it claims to pursue.
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
After working lot of years in this matter including it trying to implement whole framework I think one way to answer this is: what is strategy? Strategy is the way the organization answer to environmental stimuli. Everything that address the definition is strategic, taking into account that "everything" is composed by people, process/functions, tools in a simplistic way. Saving Changes...
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