Choosing the right planning methodology depends on the type of project. If your client’s requirements often change, you may want to choose an Agile method.
Agile teams use their experience to determine how much work can be done in a sprint and to create estimates for future sprints. Using reports from Jira Software, teams can easily track their progress.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is a process in which leaders of an organization set goals for their business over the next three to five years. These goals may include expanding into a new market, increasing sales or improving the product quality of an existing line of products. Strategic planning involves setting priorities and assigning responsibilities to achieve these goals.
Healthcare organizations may use strategic planning to pilot innovative projects, such as a new technology or care delivery model, notes Lisa Miller in “Why Every Hospital Needs a Strategic Plan.” Such plans promote innovation within an organization and hold staff accountable for achieving its goals.
A strategic plan should be based on a clear vision and include specific, measurable goals that are aligned with the company’s mission. These goals should be based on internal and external factors that affect the business, such as competitors and unforeseen opportunities. These goals are often adjusted on a regular basis to keep up with the changing business environment.
Tactical Planning
Tactical planning is a way to break down strategies into actions that can be completed within a certain timeline. It offers a flexible and less risky plan of action for business to meet its objectives. The tactical plan will list projects based on their contribution to the overall goals and assign the tasks accordingly. For example, a restaurant owner might ask one of her tech-savvy employees to start researching the recordkeeping software options, while she might assign another employee to prepare a presentation for training.
The first step in tactical planning is to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) goals. This will help to increase focus and productivity, which can significantly improve the end goal of the strategy.
Tactical plans also include clear KPIs that will allow the team to track their progress. This will help to eliminate wasteful practices and create more efficient workflows. This will ultimately lead to a higher ROI on the project.
Risk Management
Managing risk effectively can reduce the chance of a project finishing behind schedule or not achieving its intended goals. It can also prevent costly projects that are destined to fail and help ensure that your company remains profitable. Effective risk identification, assessment and management practices expose vulnerabilities faster and allow you to remove projects from the portfolio that don’t offer a positive return on investment.
A common strategy to evaluate risk involves examining the likelihood of loss and comparing it to the impact the loss would have. Identifying and evaluating risks in this way allows you to make informed decisions about how to proceed with the project.
Depending on the outcome of your risk analysis, you may decide to accept the risk and monitor it, or mitigate the risk by creating a contingency plan. The process of identifying and evaluating risk is usually iterative, requiring frequent meetings to surface issues and address them as they arise.
Time Management
Time management involves planning out your available time, evaluating the priority of each task, and controlling the amount of time spent on specific tasks. This approach is often used by individuals to achieve better work-life balance.
For example, if you have to work on a large project with a tight deadline, you can use your time management skills to prioritize the work and complete it by the end of the day. This ensures that you meet your deadline and also allows you to put more effort and brain power into the work.
You can use tools like quadrants to help you understand how to prioritize your work. Try using a quadrant matrix for your next weekly or monthly planning, and see how it helps you to be more productive. After one month, evaluate your progress and adjust as needed. Getting started with better time management is easy, and the benefits are huge. You’ll find that having more time to work on your biggest goals also reduces stress levels.