Guide
Guide
How to use Steerpoint to run engagements: from diagnostic assessment through structured workspaces to durable strategic outputs.
Steerpoint is a strategy engagement operating system. It turns diagnostic assessments into structured workspaces where strategy connects to execution through living deliverables, value cases, decisions, and durable artifacts. Built for strategists. Used with clients. The output is the engagement.
Start Here
The Quick Version
The full loop from blank page to operating engagement.
Open the dashboard
/dashboard
Click + New Engagement
Pick a framework
Experience Innovation, AI Readiness, or Digital Operations
Answer the assessment questions
Save with name, role, client
View the diagnostic
Radar chart, maturity profile, tensions
Set target state
Where does the client need to be?
See gaps and dependencies
Effort shape, phased sequencing
Generate a workspace
Deliverables, value cases, initiatives
Operate the engagement
Track, decide, produce artifacts
Everything after step 4 is generated from the assessment data. The workspace is where the engagement lives.
Object Model
How Steerpoint Works
Steerpoint organises every engagement around a connected chain of objects. Understanding this chain is the key to using the product.
Domain → Domain State → Gap → Value Case → Decision → Deliverable → Artifact
Domain
A strategic area being assessed. The territory the engagement is about.
Domain State
The evidenced current condition of a domain. Current score, target score, confidence, effort shape.
Gap
The computed distance between current and target state. Every subsequent object exists because of a gap.
Value Case
The commercial argument for closing a gap. Why it matters in business terms.
Decision
A resolved strategic choice. Records what was decided, why, and what it unlocks or blocks.
Deliverable
A bounded piece of work. Carries status, domain ownership, and initiative alignment.
Artifact
The durable output of the engagement. Architecture blueprints, transformation briefs, value case registers. Produced from the objects that informed them.
Why This Matters
AI in Steerpoint works against this structure, not open-ended prompts. Every AI function receives only the objects relevant to its specific job. Every artifact inherits the reasoning of the engagement that produced it.
Diagnose
Running an Assessment
Individual Assessment
- 1Select a framework from the assessment page
- 2Answer all questions for the selected framework
- 3Each question describes observable behaviours at five maturity stages
- 4Select the description that best matches the organisation's current reality
- 5Enter your name, role, and client name
- 6Click View Diagnostic to save at a shareable URL
Tips for Better Assessments
- Answer based on what happens today, not what is planned
- If between two stages, pick the lower one. Aspiration bias is the most common distortion.
- Different people in the same organisation will score differently. That is the point.
- The diagnostic is most valuable when it reflects reality, not ambition.
After the assessment
You get a shareable URL at /d/[code]. Share it, bookmark it, or open it on any device.
Diagnose
Reading the Diagnostic
The diagnostic page renders everything from your assessment responses. It is generated automatically from the data you provided.
Executive Summary
Five headline metrics. Overall maturity, strongest and weakest dimensions, spread, tension count.
Radar Chart
A polygon across all dimensions. Balanced means even maturity. Jagged means uneven investment. The most interesting diagnostics are jagged.
Maturity Vectors
One card per dimension. Score, stage label, and interpretation. Translates the chart into readable assessments.
Tensions
Cross-dimensional contradictions. High technology, low governance. This is where the most productive conversations start.
Setting Target State
Click Set Target State to open the target panel. Set a maturity stage (1 to 5) for each dimension. Once targets are set, the diagnostic expands with gap analysis, dependencies, recommended sequence, and engagement shape.
Gap Analysis
Distance between current and target, classified by effort type.
Dependencies
Blocked targets. What must move before what can progress.
Sequencing
Phased path: Foundations, Acceleration, Transformation.
Engagement Shape
Gaps mapped to workstreams with suggested deliverables.
Technology, architecture, platform investment
Behaviour change, process redesign, cultural shift
Leadership alignment, governance, political agreement
AI Strategic Narrative
Click Generate Analysis on a saved diagnostic to produce an AI-written strategic assessment. The narrative connects findings to business implications in language a senior leader can act on. It covers: the sharpest observation, strategic observations, tensions and their implications, a recommended next step, and a caveat. It can be regenerated for a fresh perspective.
Diagnose
Group Assessments and Perception Gaps
One person's assessment is a perspective. Five people's assessments reveal where the leadership team agrees and where they do not. The perception gap is often the most valuable diagnostic finding.
Creating a Group
- 1Complete your own assessment first
- 2On your saved diagnostic, click Create Assessment Group
- 3Copy the invite link
- 4Share it with stakeholders via email, Slack, or Teams
- 5Each person fills out the assessment independently
- 6The group diagnostic appears at /g/[code]
The Group Diagnostic
Everything the individual diagnostic shows, plus:
- Respondent Overlay -- radar chart shows each respondent as a separate polygon. Convergence means agreement. Divergence means perception gap.
- Perception Gap Analysis -- consensus vs contested dimensions. Each contested dimension shows the range and what the disagreement likely reflects.
- Group AI Narrative -- analyses patterns of agreement and disagreement. Identifies whether technical and business leadership systematically diverge.
Group Targets
Targets on the group diagnostic use aggregate (mean) scores as the baseline. All downstream analysis flows from the collective view.
Structure
From Diagnostic to Workspace
After targets are set on a diagnostic, the engagement shape becomes visible: workstreams, deliverables, effort classification, phased sequencing. This is the raw material for a workspace.
Assessment-Led Creation
Click Generate Workspace on the diagnostic. Steerpoint uses the diagnostic data to generate an engagement structure: workstreams, deliverables, value cases, and initiatives. You review and curate this structure before it becomes a live workspace. Deselect items that do not apply. Edit titles and descriptions inline. The workspace is created from what you accept.
Blank Workspace
Not every engagement starts with an assessment. Click New Blank Workspace from the dashboard to create an empty workspace and build the structure manually. Add workstreams, domains, deliverables, value cases, decisions, and initiatives as needed.
Both paths converge
Whether assessment-led or blank, the workspace operates the same way. The assessment path pre-populates; the blank path starts empty. All objects are editable regardless of origin.
Operate
Operating the Workspace
The workspace is the primary operating surface for an engagement. It organises work through three independent lenses: workstreams (how work is delivered), initiatives (what programme or project), and domains (who owns the knowledge). Every engagement object can reference these lenses independently.
Overview
The command layer. Shows engagement health, what needs attention, what is blocked, and next actions.
KPI Row
Headline engagement metrics at a glance.
AI Strategic Briefing
Four-part synthesis: Situation, Key Insight, Next Steps, Risk Signals. Refreshes on demand.
Control Center
Blocking decisions, execution needing review, initiatives missing ownership, value cases missing execution.
Workstream Progress
Delivery status across all workstreams.
Value at Stake
Commercial hypotheses and their current status.
Recent Activity
Timestamped log of changes across the engagement.
Domains
The knowledge anchor for each strategic dimension. The domain page is the most complete single-screen expression of the engagement chain.
- Maturity State panel -- current score, target score, gap, effort shape, confidence, maturity bar
- Summary metrics -- deliverables, decisions, artifacts, value cases linked to this domain
- Value at Stake -- commercial hypotheses connected to this domain
- Linked Initiatives -- change efforts mapped to this domain
- Strategist Interpretation -- the strategist's framing of the gap
- Gap Closure Work -- deliverables mapped to this domain
- Supporting Artifacts -- artifacts linked to this domain
- AI-generated principles -- produced from domain evidence, not templates. Editable after generation.
Value Cases
Commercial hypotheses connecting gaps to measurable outcomes. Each value case carries: hypothesis, conditions that must be true, confidence, measurement approach, linked evidence, linked deliverables.
Value cases can be AI-generated from diagnostic evidence or manually authored. The Value Case Challenger operator can re-evaluate any value case against current workspace evidence, flagging assumptions, surfacing risks, and suggesting refinements.
Decisions
ADR-style records of resolved strategic forks. Each decision carries: context, options considered, chosen option, rationale, consequences, affected domains.
Decisions prevent reasoning from disappearing into conversations. They are the constraint the entire downstream engagement honours.
Workstreams and Deliverables
The execution layer. Deliverables carry status (Suggested, Accepted, In Progress, Complete), domain ownership, initiative alignment, and value case linkage.
Workstreams group deliverables by delivery theme. The workstream page shows progress, blocked items, and deliverables without ownership.
Initiatives
Executive-sized change bets. Each initiative has a sponsor, status, domain linkage, and optional value case linkage. Initiatives stop the engagement from becoming a flat list of deliverables.
Adding Content
Edit model
All engagement objects use explicit edit mode. Click Edit to enter editing. Click Save to commit changes. Click Cancel to restore. Nothing saves automatically.
Learn
Artifacts and Outputs
Artifacts are not files. They are persistent engagement records produced from the objects that informed them. Deliverables complete. Artifacts persist and evolve.
Create artifacts from the artifacts page, domain pages, or linked workflow surfaces. Choose a template, give it a title, and the structured sections appear immediately.
Artifacts have a state: Draft, Reviewed, Confirmed and version tracking.
Four Orienting Questions
- What can be generated? Section content that maps to engagement objects: domain states, decisions, value cases, deliverables.
- What stays editable? Everything. AI drafts. The strategist owns.
- What updates when source data changes? Artifacts do not auto-update. They reflect the state at the time of generation. Regenerate to incorporate changes.
- What persists regardless of workspace changes? Confirmed artifact content. Artifacts are an engagement record, not a live view.
Edit model
Artifacts use explicit edit mode. Click Edit to enter editing. Click Save to commit. Click Cancel to restore. Nothing saves on blur or automatically.
Available Templates
Sections marked AI-populatable can be pre-filled using the Generate with AI button. AI generation uses the engagement objects linked to that artifact as context.
Intelligence
AI in the Workflow
AI in Steerpoint works against engagement structure, not open-ended prompts. Every AI function receives only the objects relevant to its specific job.
AI Strategic Briefing
Lives on the workspace overview. Synthesises workspace state into a four-part reading: Situation, Key Insight, Next Steps, Risk Signals. Refreshes on demand. The strategist can provide guidance to shape the next generation. Previous briefings are stored.
Engagement Operators
Named AI roles that operate against bounded context packages from the engagement object graph.
Value Case Challenger
Re-evaluates a value case against current workspace evidence. Challenges assumptions, flags risks, suggests refinements. The strategist sees exactly what evidence the operator used before accepting or dismissing any suggestion.
Domain Strategist
Reads domain state, gaps, and dependencies. Produces domain observations, suggested principles, sequencing implications, and risk signals. Output appears as a suggestion for the strategist to review before anything enters the engagement.
Engagement Strategist
Produces the workspace strategic briefing. Synthesises across the full engagement chain to create the four-part reading on the workspace overview.
How Operator Output Works
Every operator output appears as a suggestion card. The card shows the role that produced it, the context it was given, and the proposed output. The strategist accepts, dismisses, or edits before accepting. Nothing enters the engagement without review.
What AI Drafts. What the Strategist Owns.
AI drafts. The strategist decides. The engagement data is the constraint. AI does not replace judgment about what matters most for this specific client. It accelerates the production of structured output from structured evidence.
Deliverables
Exports
PDF Report
Diagnostic Report
- Cover page co-branded with client name
- Executive summary with headline metrics
- Radar chart rendered from assessment data
- Maturity vector cards per dimension
- Gap analysis and dependency constraints
- Phased sequencing and engagement shape
Click Export PDF on any saved diagnostic.
PPTX Deck
Steering Committee Presentation
- Title slide with client name, framework, date
- Headline finding from AI narrative
- Current state overview with maturity bars
- Radar profile with dimension score table
- Gap analysis with effort shape
- Phased sequence and next steps
Click Export Presentation on any saved diagnostic.
Over Time
Tracking Progress
Re-assessment tracks progress over time. From a group diagnostic, click Re-assess to start a new wave. Respondents take the same assessment again. The diagnostic shows movement.
Wave Radar
Current vs previous vs target overlay on the radar chart.
Movement Cards
Per-dimension delta, trajectory, and gap closure percentage.
Timeline Chart
Dimension scores plotted over time across all waves.
Perception Gap Evolution
How stakeholder alignment changes across waves.
Value Case Validation
Value cases accumulate measurements over time. A case that predicted conversion improvement can be tracked against actual metrics. Status progresses: Hypothesised, Validated, Realised as evidence accumulates.
Available Frameworks
Frameworks
7 dimensions · 21 questions
Experience Innovation Maturity
Dimensions
5 Stages
Best for: Commerce, luxury, hospitality, retail, travel
6 dimensions · 21 questions
AI Readiness
Dimensions
5 Stages
Best for: Organisations exploring or scaling AI adoption across the business
Strategist Playbook
Tips for Strategists
New Business Assessment
- 1Send the assessment link to 3 to 5 stakeholders
- 2Let them assess independently
- 3Review the group diagnostic before the meeting
- 4Use the perception gaps as the opening: "Your team doesn't agree on where you are. Let's talk about why."
- 5Set targets together using the target panel
- 6The engagement shape and sequencing become your proposal
Active Engagement
- 1Generate the workspace from the diagnostic
- 2Review suggested deliverables with the client
- 3Accept or modify deliverables to match agreed scope
- 4Track progress through status changes
- 5Create artifacts as deliverables produce outputs
- 6Log decisions as forks are resolved
- 7Track value cases with measurements
- 8Re-assess at 6-month intervals to measure movement
What Makes a Good Assessment Conversation
The diagnostic is most powerful when it reveals tension: between dimensions (technology outpacing organisation), between stakeholders (CTO vs CMO), between ambition and reality (targets far from current state).
Lean into the tension. That's where the strategy lives.
The system produces the data. The strategist produces the insight. The AI narrative helps, but judgment about what matters most for this specific client is the strategist's job.
Support
Built and maintained by the Steerpoint technology and strategy team.
Questions or feedback: hello@steerpoint.io