When I say ‘it’s a plan, it’s supposed to be wrong’, what do I actually mean? And beyond that, what makes a good project plan? When I first started managing projects, I noticed that some of my colleagues believed the goal was to start and finish every task on time while using only the estimated effort for each task. This was in the days before Agile, and they thought the perfect plan was one that showed absolutely no variance at the end of the project. And they made sure that happened.
And of course, it was all a lie. The project manager was modifying the plan to reflect what actually happened because they thought that an accurate plan was a measure of success. It wasn’t a plan; it was a historical record.
Today we have thankfully moved on. We recognize that plans aren’t always going to be accurate, and we embrace Agile as a different approach that plans work in a different way – usually fixed time intervals with a flexible backlog of work to complete in each period.
The Importance of Flexibility in Planning
Ask anyone involved in projects and they’ll quickly acknowledge that plans will need to evolve and adapt to changing priorities, shifting operating environments, and variations in execution. Yet in some ways, we still haven’t moved too far forward. Let me explain.
When your organization is conducting planning sessions, whether at the portfolio, program, or project levels, the focus is always on trying to complete the work as effectively and efficiently as possible. For portfolios, that means approving as many initiatives as possible. For programs and projects, it means delivering work as quickly and with as few resources as necessary.
That approach works fine when things are going well, but as soon as you need to change your plans, and as we’ve already established, you will need to change your plans, that attempt to maximize productivity will hurt you.
Adjusting plans requires the ability to be flexible. Organizations must maintain underutilized resources to make changes with minimal disruption, which requires keeping a reserve of people. You need to be able to move work around in delivery schedules to align with changing needs. That requires schedule and release flexibility. You need the ability to adjust expenditure on vendors and contractors, and that requires financial reserves.
The Role of PPM Solutions
Why does this happen? Is it simply an extension of the flawed thinking that led project managers to adjust plans to match reality all those years ago? Occasionally, but more often, a lack of understanding causes these problems to occur. Your organization likely doesn’t realize that it is planning flexibility out of the project delivery environment. And it doesn’t realize it because it doesn’t have visibility.
Many organizations are operating without an enterprise-wide, fully integrated project portfolio management (PPM) solution like Sciforma’s. This means that information on the work being carried out, the human and financial resources being consumed, and the upcoming planned initiatives, are stored in multiple different systems across the enterprise. In many cases, some of this information is maintained manually in spreadsheets, almost guaranteeing errors and missed opportunities.
That simply isn’t enough in today’s world. Plans do need to change and evolve, and those changes need to be implemented effectively and efficiently. To make that happen, you need a leading PPM solution. If you don’t have that, we’re here to help. And remember, it’s a plan, it’s supposed to be wrong!
