Habit # 3—Build an Integrated Plan for Accomplishing the Vision

Abstract

Planning requires us to make assumptions about the efficiency of future efforts, about the outcomes of decisions we have yet to make, about the performance of technologies we may not fully understand, about our individual and team competencies, and about a host of other factors. Those predictions are the foundation on which our often multiyear project plans are based. Project success is significantly influenced, perhaps even determined, by the accuracy of some of those many predictions and likelihood assessments. For example, a corporate team may plan to install a single software program that will be used by every business unit to purchase materials and supplies. The system will replace the various unique software programs or manual processes currently in use at each business unit. The team planning this activity must make many predictions and assumptions, including:

• The new software will provide all the essential functions currently provided by the existing software products and manual processes.

• The new software interfaces are compatible with all the existing software products, computer platforms, and manual processes.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–1944)