Planning Skills

Planning Skills

If you are working with goals or projects then you need to have some planning skills.

These planning skills will help you map out the steps that you need to take to achieve your goal or complete your project.

In this section we will look at a key planning skill;

Starting at the end

Starting at the end and working backwards is a great way to work more effectively. It works in a variety of settings. It's great when working on a project as it allows you to start with the deadline and then work backwards slotting in all the steps and tasks that need completing. This can help you understand if the deadline is realistic and the time you need to allow for the project.

Using this planning skill is a bit like planning a car journey. You wouldn't set off not knowing where you were going, you would know your destination and have a route in mind to get there.

Knowing that all the tasks and steps to complete the project are planned in from the start means you can focus on what needs doing now – you become more effective and productive. The more you work with this technique the more planning skills will improve and you will become more accurate at forecasting the amount of time things will take for example.

This tool is devilishly simple but very effective. Here's how to use it;

1. Take the completion date you have been given or would like to complete something by. 2. Break down the time between now and then into chunks. For a year project this might means months, for a shorter project it might mean weeks. 3. Start assigning each of the major steps/tasks to a week or a month. 4. When you have finished reflect on your draft plan. 5. Consider the time you have available each week or month to work on this project and compare this to the time each step/task will take. 6. If necessary reconfigure by changing the steps/tasks or moving the deadline.

This tool works with lots of goals including goals that involved saving money for something. Using this tool with each of your goals enables you to see the "big picture". It will help identify if you are being unrealistic with your time. Committing 30 hours per week to your project might be unrealistic if you are working full time too for example. It will also identify if you are trying to work on too many things at once, if the deadlines are too short or too long. The risk with a goal that has a very long deadline is there is no sense of urgency to it and it could easily slip of your radar because you may not be motivated to achieve it.

Try this tool with one of your goals. Don't worry too much about the details – aim to break the goal down into major steps/tasks rather than each little step initially. Once you are happy with the rough outline you can then work on breaking things down further.

Source : articlesbase.com