What’s in a Plan?
People often refer to making plans and the benefit of planning, but really, what’s in a plan?
My name’s Natalie Miller-Snell, and I’m a recovering Project Manager… it’s fair to say that planning is in my blood and I have a penchant for timelines. Having led teams for over two decades, delivering projects across the globe, I’ve experienced first hand the pain when things are not organised and I acutely recognise the enormous benefit a plan can bring to the success of any project or aspect of life. But let’s go back in time a little and hop over to Italy for a story that may whet your appetite.
Photo Credit: Halacious on Unsplash
In the late 1800s, an economist and philosopher chap, Vilfredo Frederico Damaso Pareto, is believed to have noticed that only 20% of his pea plants yielded 80% of the healthy crop. He applied this realisation to wealth, discovering an unhealthy ratio of land (80%) was owned by only 20% of the population. He later went on to apply this understanding to other economic and management situations, discovering much the same result. Today, this ideology is known as the Pareto Principle, and is used as a Management Tool, suggesting that 80% of success comes from 20% action.
So, if we take this reasoning and use 20% of our time to plan out a project, a sequence or a timeline, our fruits will yield 80% success. Mic Drop! Additionally, when we have 80% of the plan in a fairly solid place, should the unforeseen items rear their head (and more often than not, they do), those challenges will not become overwhelming or unmanageable, since we are 80% planned and in order. Boom!
Another example for you, I took a week off work last week. It was heavenly. We decided to paint our bedroom. Fourteen years of no attention meant it was really rather dreary - on the other hand, my son’s rooms have had at least two bedroom make overs, each, during this time… but that’s another story.
I roped in help from my family and on the Monday, gave them my plan for the week, noting there was a chance we could get the carpet arranged for Friday rather than the following Monday. I set out my plan as below:
Mon: gut the room, fill, sand and clean everything
Tues: decorate the ceiling and walls and hang new light fitting
Wed: decorate furniture
Thurs: hang wall paper
Fri: carpet gets fitted… 🤞🏼
My plan was met with scepticism: “not a chance”; “that’s too tight”; “we’ll never get that completed on time” and so on.
I was receptive to the feedback and willing to adapt if required. We all spoke openly about what we were doing, how we were doing it, when we were doing it and flagged any concerns as we met them, for open discussion. And we worked hard - really hard!! Monday was a long and brutal day, but we broke the back of it, for the ‘nicer’ finishing items during the remainder of the week.
Suffice it to say, we did meet the timeline and the carpet did get fitted on the Friday 🙌🏼.
A plan is only ever as good as the action and intention behind it. When working with a team, communication is key. Folk need to know what they are doing, why they are doing it and that everyone is in it together. When anyone raises a query, it needs to be discussed and evaluated with respect - all opinions and ideas matter. If you want your team to trust you and get behind the project, you have to trust and listen to their views and their suggestions.
And if you can have success running a project with family… you can do it ANYWHERE!!
