Things don’t always go according to plan.
This seems like the most ordinary statement you could make, but it’s astounding how poorly project plans reflect this reality. There’s an old boxing adage that says “everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” This is a clever way of saying that there are limitations to planning, and that reality (aka a punch in the face) may cause you to reevaluate your plans. Project teams often fail to bridge this gap between planning and doing by overestimating how well their plans reflect reality. Reality is unpredictable. Reality is uncertain. Reality is risky.
A plan is an approximation of the future, not an instruction manual.
Planning is an essential tool in the early stages of a project and helps provide a reference point for project success, but your plan won’t help you see the future. Your plan won’t reduce uncertainty. Your plan won’t stop you from getting punched in the face.
So what can you do to minimize the impacts of a face-punching? In other words, how do you account for unpredictability and an uncertain future in your project planning?
Focus on learning and adapting.
Understand that your plan is just an approximation of reality, and the accuracy of that approximation changes over time. Once you acknowledge that you will be modifying and refining your plans constantly during project execution, you can understand how observing and learning will help better inform the continual planning process. The ability to analyze and adapt to new information and changing conditions is critical to controlling risk and protecting project value.
Next time you put together a project plan, work hard to get it as accurate and detailed as you can at the time, but don’t waste time trying to make it perfect. Once you have a baseline, you can learn and adapt as the project unfolds. In future posts we’ll discuss ways that you can monitor and adapt project plans throughout the project