Planning with direction

Do you know when the worst possible time to write a plan is? No, it’s at the beginning. Before a project starts (I’m going to refer to everything as a project today whether it be a product launch, event, software implementation or garden party) is when the you have the least amount of data available. You have the least amount of insight into the many variables that will dictate the success (or lack of) of your project. Drat.

However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan. But it’s a different kind of planning. I’ve described myself as a ‘rock n roll manager’ in recent times (I’m a dad, so it’s okay to be uncool) and what that means to me is this:

Rock is different to jazz in that it’s more about ‘the show’ that ‘show’. It’s about putting on a great show and making everyone have an amazing time. There’s no sheet music on stage, the audience is encouraged to sing, dance and make a lot of noise. I love jazz and classical music, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a more cerebral activity. The other thing about rock is when the curtain opens, the show is ON. If the lights explode, carry on. If you break a string or drumstick, carry on. If the stage catches fire, carry on. The show must go on. That’s rock n roll. There’s a directional purpose here. To Put On A Great Show. Each song, each note, each light, each band member is part of that purpose, and understands their part to play. When (not if) things go wrong / happen unexpectedly then you improvise. Find another way to get it done. You don’t stop the song because you broke a string. In fact, watch this;

Stevie Ray Vaughn barely misses a note changing a guitar mid-song.

https://youtu.be/JIFdMbhCa94

What a legend. What a crew. Communication, understanding and improvisation.

That’s how we rock.

Anyway, back to planning.

When you are planning with direction you start with the end in mind.

• Where am I going?

• How am I going to get there?

• What change do I want to make when I arrive?

When you employ directional planning and give your team orders based on outcomes rather than tasks it means that the project can continue in the correct direction with many, multiple course changes. There’s a parallel with agile methodology here, using small, iterative changes to build something meaningful over time.

If you can start your project planning with these questions in mind, and SHARE them with your team it will give them a better understanding of the WHY. It will also help them to make small, smart course corrections when they need to.

Example:

• We are going to build a yoga app by:

• using cloud-hosting services and open-source code with agile methodologies to build, test and deploy because:

• we want people to be more mindful and relaxed at this difficult time

Or “These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!”

We now know WHAT we are going to do, HOW we are going to do it and WHY. Any snags along the way can be addressed by referencing the above.

Any plan is going to involve multiple course corrections (well, it should). Even Usain Bolt running the 100m sprint is making many, many change plans along the way. A plan that lasts less that 10 seconds. He might be leaning forward, leaning back, changing his attack angle, increase his foot turnover, raising his elbows higher, smiling at the camera. But he knows where he is going (a finish line, 100m away), how he is going to get there (controlled falling, commonly known as running) and the change he wants to make (a world record).

You might have noticed 2 constants and a variable here (if you did, well done, take a treat), The WHAT and the WHY don’t change. The HOW changes. It changes dependant on the execution of the plan, in Real Time. That’s the rock n roll element. We are going to put on a great show (WHAT), in order to make people have a great time (WHY). How are you going to do that? We ROCK.

So, make plans. It’s important. Plans for success, for survival, for health, for happiness. Start with WHY (read Simon Sinek’s book, it’s amazing), define your WHAT, then directionally plan your HOW. Be prepared for it to change. Have a change plan in place and empower your teams to be able to make directional changes in order to achieve the WHAT and WHY goals.

Until next time, rock on.

*if you want / need some help with planning or execution. Call me :-)