How to Plan for Uncertainty in Uncertain Times

Johanna Rothman, known as the "Pragmatic Manager," offers frank advice for your challenging problems. She consults with leaders and teams to help them learn about practical and possible options. They can then decide how to adapt their product development. Her most recent book is "Project Lifecycles: How to Reduce Risks, Release Successful Products, and Increase Agility." See www.jrothman.com for all her books.

  Agile   Change Management   Quality   Strategy  

Cindy, a project manager, told me her company always spent significant time planning. “We had to create a two- to five-year look-ahead they called their strategic plan. There wasn’t much strategic about it,” she said. “It was all about which features and projects they wanted when.”

She’s right—that’s not a strategic plan.

Cindy continued: “We also had to create a one-year, budget-driven project portfolio. We spent all of October, November and December planning and estimating for the December planning activity.”

What happened?

“Last year, all our plans needed to change by the end of January. And, by June, we needed to change that document they called the strategic plan. We needed to change which products and services to offer when.”

I nodded.

She said, “I was convinced that they thought it they planned, they might get the results they wanted.”

I asked about this year’s plans.

“Oh, we scrapped all of them in early March. Now we’re flying by the seat of our pants,” she said before pausing. “It’s not very comfortable.”

I’m sure it’s not. Are you in a similar position? Maybe you don’t spend quite so much time planning. Maybe your previous plans lasted several months, or maybe even most of a year. However, we’…

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