A Successful Project Plan Requires These Four Components

Plan for success by preparing for failure.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

“Planning is important, but the most important part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according to plan.” — Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money

I’m a technical project manager by trade, which means I spend my days herding cats, extinguishing fires, and dodging bullets. Not necessarily in that order.

One time, years ago, I was presenting a project plan to a conference room full of decision-makers. As I walked through the potential risks and mitigation strategies built into my plan, a guy from the marketing team pounded the table with his fist and shouted, “You’re just planning for failure before you even try! Why are you wasting my time? This plan is completely unacceptable!”

I’ve been a project manager for two decades now, and do you know how many project teams I’ve seen execute a plan with no deviations or issues? Zero. It’s never happened.

So, how do you ensure success for your projects in an imperfect and unpredictable world?

The four basic concepts that maximize your chances for a successful outcome are best illustrated using an example. Let’s plan a welcome home party for your friend who was away all summer working as a counselor…