Role of planning and various planning techniques

The most important thing is to know what you want to do (vision). Why are you here now? Today I am going to talk about the second most important thing, which is planning. For the curious audience the third most important thing is massive implementation and the fourth thing is positioning. Planning is the art of mentally going through the motion or series of events to get the project done. It is also important that plans are written down and documented.

Many people know where they are going. Many people have an idea of what they need to do to get where they are going. Few people take the pains to plan for the journey. Planning is the interface between vision and implementation. Many people however just move from vision to implementation. This is the reason for the failure of many undertakings and projects. Planning ensures you are realistic and not just optimistic or pessimistic about the project. In planning you take into consideration the following factors.

Objectives and goals of the undertaken/project.
Identify the stakeholders. Who are the people your project will impact i.e. government, employees, management, community, customers etc.
Sketch what the work is going to look like. State the activities that need to be carried out.
Arrange the activities in order of sequence making room for alternative paths.
Assign reasonable time to each activities making room for delays.
Take risk into consideration. Don’t have the mentality that nothing will go wrong. In real life anything can go wrong and it will not be the work of the devil. Identify the risk, qualify the risk, quantify the risk and plan to respond to the risk. Have a back plan or contingency for every activity, personnel, source of funds and even your self.
Cost estimating and budgeting. How much will the resources and materials cost? How much will each stage and phase of the projects require?
Human resource needs. It takes a team to fulfill a dream. You need to identify the people who are going to implement the different phases in the project. What qualifications or skills should they have? What training needs are to be met to bridge any skill gap?
Plan for purchases and acquisitions. You will need materials and resources to achieve the dream. How, when and where are you going to get them. Are they readily available? Who are the supplies or vendors? Have back up arrangements for them. Any body or organization can disappoint. Stop looking at men like angels.
Quality planning. How good is the output of the undertaken going to be? What parameters are you going to appraise them? You need to set this ahead of time. You can’t afford to use sentiments and discretion if you want top quality. Quality assessment and control really matters. The days of doing things anyhow are over.
You will also need to plan communication. This may be the most important role of whoever is overseeing the project. This may be your most important role.
Social responsibility. How is your undertaken going to benefit the society?
Note that all the above points must be written down and signed by the appropriate persons.