7 TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE PLANNING
Lay out tasks and work - successful projects start
Define goals and measures - nothing keeps projects on time and on budget
with a structured plan. Most of them anyway. Ask
like goals and measures. Set goals for the entire project, as well as any secondary
yourself, what do I need to accomplish? What are
tasks. Plan for everything. Set measures so you and others can track progress
the goals? What’s the timescale? What resources
against your goals.
do I need? How many of the resources do I control? How do I get the rest of the resources –
Manage multiple plans - attempting to accomplish vast plans involves
people, funding, tools, materials, support – that I
managing multiple tasks at the same time. It helps if you have a master-plan.
need? Lay the work out from start to finish; from
Good planning abates the chance of losing control by spreading yourself too
A to Z. Manage budget - plan your budget and manage against it. Spend diligently and have a contingency plan in case the unexpected should happen. Implement a funding timescale so that you can track ongoing expenditures. Match people to tasks - people are different and have idiosyncratic talents. They have individual strengths and varying levels of knowledge and experience. Don’t think of everyone as the same, think of them as different, because in
7 PLANNING TIPS
Seven actions to help us all improve our planning
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reality, equal treatment is tasking people to match their capacities. Visualise the plan in process - run scenarios in your mind. As much as possible, think along multiple paths and how they can produce different outcomes. Rank any potential problems and create a contingency plan for each. Take note of any weak links – typically components that you have the least experience or control over.