Effective Planning

This presentation helps you effectively do the planning

1. Effective Planning
Ankur Maheshwari

2. Planning?
Planning is looking ahead and preparing your self to focus on
actions to achieve desired results. Effective Planning minimize the
risk of failure.
For Effective planning:-
•Think long term, Document short term
•Keep is simple
•Plan for unexpected as well
•Do a ground reality check
•Prepare yourself to accommodate improvements
•Identify and document dependencies
•Let the plan be a living document

3. Steps to Effective Planning?
1.Gather Information
2.Set a Goal
3.Explore Options
4.Create the Plan –Set of actions to reach the goal
5.Evaluate the plan
6.Take Buy In
7.Implement the plan
8.Track the plan
9.Close the plan

4. Realistic planning requires homework
•Read documentation
•Ask Questions
•Understand Requirements
•Recollect past experience
•Gather historical data
•Talk to people
•Take time to digest
•Consolidate gathered Information
Gather Information

5. You should set a SMART goal
S –Simple
M –Measurable
A –Achievable
R –Realistic
T –Time Bound
•Make it clear and concise
•Summarize in one statement to be precise
•Validate goal against the smart criteria
•Freeze the goal
Set a Goal

6. •Look all possible Approaches to reach the goal
•Rank them in order of importance
•Evaluate the top 3
•Select the best fit
•Review the feasibility and incorporate feedback
Explore Options

7. •Detail out the major milestones to achieve the chosen approach
•Document activities that help achieve milestones
•Effort estimate each activity and fit the schedule
•Co-relate dependencies
•Assign resources to activities
Create the Plan

8. Evaluate the plan on various parameters and ensure that possible
risks have clear mitigation plans. Some of the common project risks
are below:
1.Unclear roles and responsibilities
2.Scope changes
3.Effort variation
4.Lack of resource commitment
5.Delay of responses from customer
6.No buy-in from Stakeholders
7.Poor and unclear communication
Revise the plan wherever required.
Evaluate the Plan

9. The benefits of planning depend on how well the plan is understood
by the stakeholders and how well it is executed. For both of
these, we need a buy in from the stakeholders. So, once the plan is
in place:
•Share the plan with stakeholders
•Conduct a meet and explain the plan
•Let them digest
•Seek feedbacks
•Improve the plan based on suggestions
•Seek an agreement
•Close the step by deciding owners
•Baseline the plan
Take Buy In

10. For winning a game, it is important for the playing team to
understand its rules. Similarly for implementing the plan
successfully it is important that:
•Ground rules are clearly defined, documented and educated
•Owners are clearly identified
•Scope is managed through effective change management
•Success criteria are defined
•Un-Ambiguous information is shared
•Intermediate wins are enjoyed
•Failures provide feedback and plan revisited
Implement the plan

11. The best way to track the plan is to be in touch
•Sync with the team as much as possible
•Keep track of key milestones
•Uses tracking techniques and tools like earned value analysis
•Use effective reporting techniques
•Prepare team for pro-actively sharing the risks and issues
•Identify roadblocks and remove them
•Empower team to deliver results
•Support the team
Track the plan

12. Closing the plan is as important as any other step in the planning
process. Closing the plan gives the opportunity to evaluate what
went wrong and what went right in the planning.
•Get sign offs
•Identify the key success factors
•Identify the key failures
•Identify key performing resources. Appraise them.
•Share and document lessons learnt
•Share and document best practices
•Use it as a feedback for next planning
Close the plan

13. Summary
Do Homework Set the Goal Explore Options Create the plan Evaluate the plan
Get Buy In
Implement the Plan
Track the plan
Close the plan

14. Thank You
Ankur Maheshwari
[email protected]
Go Green –Save Environment –Contribute your bit