Over Planning

Over Planning

Over Planning Jonathan Poland

Over planning refers to the practice of spending excessive amounts of time planning without implementing any of the plans. This can be a wasteful and inefficient approach to problem-solving, as it can lead to plans that are overly complex and difficult to execute.

In some cases, over planning may be necessary for the development of extremely complex products or projects, such as a new airliner. In these situations, a high level of planning is required in order to ensure that the project is completed successfully. However, for most business operations, over planning can be a hindrance rather than a help.

Instead of over planning, it is often more effective to develop a clear and concise plan that focuses on the key objectives and priorities. This can help to ensure that resources are used efficiently and that progress is made in a timely manner. By avoiding over planning, businesses can avoid wasting time and effort on unnecessary activities, and instead focus on implementing their plans and achieving their goals. The following are alternatives that allow for less planning overhead, reduced project risk and a faster response to change.

Last Responsible Moment

Last responsible moment is the practice of delaying decisions and planning until they absolutely need to be done. This allows you to respond to change and reduce wasted planning effort.

Integrated Product Team

Small multidisciplinary teams that are responsible for requirements, development and operations for a single product or process. This prevents the heavy politics of having departments dealing with departments. It also simulates the structure of small firms that tend to do things far more efficiently than larger firms.

Ranking Priorities

A common way that projects get big is that stakeholders are asked to prioritize their requirements and they rate everything as “must have.” This can be prevented with a mandate that they rank priorities from 1…n.

Agile

Agile is the practice of implementing work in chunks no longer than a few weeks in duration. This typically restricts the planning phase for a release to a single day. Agile also allows for longer term planning to occur in the background away from the critical path of releasing work often.

Time to Market

Prioritizing time to market as a business metric forces planning cycles to be short as changes need to be shipped quickly. In other words, executives that aggressively evaluate teams on time to market will force teams to minimize planning.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is the process of measuring results, improving and measuring again. This works well with agile whereby you improve in quick releases that can be adapted quickly based on real world results.

Process Streamlining

Minimizing bureaucratic processes that make planning bigger such as budget approvals or reviews by multiple departments. It is easier to justify minimal processes for small changes. This is yet another benefit of agile.

Planning Culture

Implementing habits, routines and norms that shorten planning such as standing meetings where nobody gets to sit down.

Structural Minimization

The less people that are involved in a change the less planning will be required. Likewise, changes that involve vendors or multiple departments may be orders of magnitude slower. As such, a basic principle of planning reduction is to put everyone with the authority to complete the change on the same small team. This can be described as designing your organizational structure to minimize the footprint of change.

Learn More
Thought Process Jonathan Poland

Thought Process

Thought is the mental process of perceiving, organizing, and interpreting information. It is the foundation of all higher cognitive functions,…

Trademarks Jonathan Poland

Trademarks

Trademarks are used to identify and distinguish goods and services from those of others in the marketplace. Here’s what can…

Strategic Risk Jonathan Poland

Strategic Risk

Strategy risk refers to the potential for losses resulting from the implementation of a particular strategy. All strategies carry some…

Strategic Management Jonathan Poland

Strategic Management

Strategic management involves the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by a company’s top management on…

Product Category Jonathan Poland

Product Category

A product category is a classification of similar or related products or services. These categories are often created by a…

Sales Metrics Jonathan Poland

Sales Metrics

Sales metrics are commonly used to assess the performance of a sales team or individual salesperson. These metrics can be…

Economic Moat Jonathan Poland

Economic Moat

An economic moat is a concept in business strategy that refers to a company’s ability to maintain a competitive advantage…

Strategic Drivers Jonathan Poland

Strategic Drivers

Strategic drivers are factors that influence the success of an organization’s strategy and shape the direction of its business. They…

Knowledge Capital Jonathan Poland

Knowledge Capital

Knowledge capital refers to the resources and capabilities that enable a nation, city, organization, or individual to engage in knowledge…

Content Database

Search over 1,000 posts on topics across
business, finance, and capital markets.

Taxation Risk Jonathan Poland

Taxation Risk

Taxation risks refer to the potential for a business to face financial or reputational harm due to issues related to…

Executive Hiring Jonathan Poland

Executive Hiring

Hire 1 to hire 10. Never hire individual team members, always focus on making a single hiring of a manager…

Strategy 101 Jonathan Poland

Strategy 101

Business strategy is the set of actions and decisions that a business takes in order to achieve its goals and…

Risks of Artificial Intelligence Jonathan Poland

Risks of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) has often been depicted in science fiction as a potential threat to human life or well-being. In…

Product Knowledge Jonathan Poland

Product Knowledge

Product knowledge refers to the ability to effectively communicate information and answer questions about a product or service. This knowledge…

Data Quality Jonathan Poland

Data Quality

Data quality refers to the accuracy, completeness, and reliability of information used for various purposes within an organization. Ensuring high…

Public Capital Jonathan Poland

Public Capital

Public capital refers to the physical and intangible assets owned and managed by the government for the benefit of society.…

Cost Performance Index Jonathan Poland

Cost Performance Index

Cost Performance Index (CPI) is a project management metric that measures the efficiency of project cost management. It is calculated…

Vertical Integration Jonathan Poland

Vertical Integration

Vertical integration is when a single company owns multiple levels or all of its supply chain.