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Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” As a project manager, I have always found that a project cannot be managed without a good plan. So perhaps in battle, plans are useless, but not so with projects—the plan is our guide and our measuring stick for progress. Creating a plan is one thing. Following and adjusting the plan is another.
There is some “behind the scenes” brainwork that takes place in all project planning. First, you must define the purpose and principles of the project. Why does the project even exist? Your answers will help define successful outcome, set boundaries, as well as help focus and motivate towards completion. You simply must know where you are going before you can plot the course.
Second, visualize the outcome. If you can’t see what the end result will look like, you will have a difficult time figuring out how to do it. A technique here is described in “results chain management.” You describe the end result and the environment that describes its success. Then you work backward and ask, “What had to happen just before we got to this point?” There may be more than one event or task. At the new tasks, you ask the question again and keep asking until you arrive at the present. The process paints a path that identifies the critical results that will chain together to hit the goal. If you create a plan based on this type of thinking, the tasks will all have meaning and keep you from going off track.
Third, engage team members in brainstorming sessions. Each member will have expertise in their own arena of experience and the synergy will generate ideas for moving the project to completion. Read up on how to effectively facilitate a brainstorming session before trying it, though. A bad experience will not only be a waste of time, but could contribute to the creation of a bad or unworkable project plan. Capture the ideas on paper so that you can take the next step to organize.
Fourth, organize the thoughts from brainstorming by sorting the components, sequences, and priorities. A plan will magically begin to form.
Fifth, identify all actions and tasks that will “connect the dots” in your plan. Assigning resources and allocating according to work load will provide the first look at a calendar for the project. Share the plan with the team and take their advice to refine it into not only a look forward, but a guide to measure success as you progress through the timeline.
Finally, don’t become so enamored with your plan that you are not willing to make any adjustments along the way. The plan is essential for starting the road to success but circumstances may suggest changes. It was Lester R. Bittel in The Nine Master Keys of Management who said, “Good plans shape good decisions…”
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