Why You Need to Plan... At Least a Little Bit

"If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail" – Benjamin Franklin

The first time I heard the above quote, or a variation of it at least, I was sitting in a class on project management. Although it’s stuck with me in the years since, it’s a lot easier to say it than live by it. As creative people, what we want to do more than anything is create, so oftentimes we get an idea of where we need to go and then put our heads down and start running, and we don’t look up until we've accomplished that task. The problem is, the landscape can change so much when you’re not paying attention, when you finally pick your head up and look around, it takes a while just to get your bearings.

But planning is boring, and it’s a lot easier to steer a moving ship right? I won’t argue against either of those points, because to me they are both true. There are a lot of other things I’d rather do than write up policies and procedures and plan the work that needs to be accomplished for each milestone. It’s also definitely a lot
easier to maneuver when you have some momentum. As you keep getting things done the big picture starts to get a little bit clearer, almost like putting down the pieces of a puzzle.

Unfortunately, regardless of how defined your vision is for the project, it’s impossible to get the full picture at the beginning of the project (or at any point in the project really). There are two reasons for this, the first being a lack of information. It’s really hard to plan something when you have a lot of unanswered questions, and sometimes the only way to get answers is to start working on it. The second reason is change. It’s impossible to avoid in any project that takes longer than a few hours because, guess what, we can’t predict the future. You can spend weeks making this amazing, detailed plan that carefully plots out who’s doing what for the next 6 months and the day after you finish, something happens that sends you pretty much back to the drawing board.

So if you don’t plan, you’re going to get lost, but if you do plan and something happens, all that work goes out the window. The trick is to not get bogged down in the planning. It’s just as easy to start running with your head down planning as it is doing the “fun” stuff. You've got to keep things flexible, especially early on where change is the order of the day. A good plan doesn't have to define every step of the way. A good plan gives the team focus; it keeps the vision and goals of the team in constant view, so that when everyone comes up for air, they know where they are, and they know what the next step is. But how do you do it? There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution unfortunately because every team and every project is unique. I do, however, have some advice (and here you were thinking this was just some long rant!).

• Define your milestones – what are the BIG things you need to accomplish for each build/milestone/sprint/whatever you want to call it... And don’t just do it for the current milestone. Look ahead to the next one, and the one after that. It’s important to keep your next few steps in mind because that will allow you to prioritize what needs to get done in the here and now when change rears it’s ugly head. Don’t get too bogged down in the details, especially for work that’s months away. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to flesh that out when you have a better idea of the specifics of what will be required.

• Come up with some sort of capacity plan – how much is everyone going to be able to work this week? This month? This milestone? If you don’t know this than you can’t possibly plan for when things are going to get done. Sure not every task is going to take as long as you estimate it will (some take longer, others less time), but this will at least allow you to see potential issues before they are on top of you. For example, you can see that there might not be enough work for your art team next week, or that there’s no way the design team will get that level built in time.

• Identify your risks and come up with a mitigation plan – This one is crucial and often overlooked. You need to identify areas where problems are likely to occur early, and come up with a way to deaden the impact. This will make change hurt less and will also set you up to deal with unsatisfactory answers to your unanswered questions from earlier in the project (hint: if you have unanswered questions, those are risks).

• Identify your opportunities and come up with a plan to exploit them – Just as crucial as risks, properly exploiting opportunities can allow you to make up lost time, or give your project a boost even if everything’s going according to plan (I’m sure it happens on some projects...).

• Set up some sort of process for everyone to see who’s working on what and when it needs to be done – We started with spreadsheets, then moved to Basecamp and then finally switched to Teamwork. Each time we improved the process, we improved how much we were getting done, especially on time. You have to give your team an easy way to see the big picture, or at least a big chunk of it. Every team’s needs are different so find what works for you to keep everyone on the same page.

Just remember it’s a team effort. Good project management is good people management; the plan is there to help with that. So saddle-up, leave the ego at the door, and prepare for a bumpy ride, because no project is just smooth sailing... that’s all part of the fun!

- Brandon Carboni

Project Manager for NORA