- When planning a project you can Save more or save time.
- Another trade off, particularly in technical projects is Quality vs. Speed.
- Backcasting and Premortems are useful techniques in planning. Remember that positive and negative futures have to add up to 100%. By employing both techniques we can get a realistic picture on how we move forward in planning1.
- Technical Project Estimation
- Schedule - creating Pressure and Project Schedule.
- Staffing
The Nature of Projects
How to run a successful project
- âThink slow, act fastâ: Spend as much time planning as feasible or
necessary so that action is smooth and quick2
- Mistakes and iterations in planning are cheap, mistakes in during action are deadly and can lead to a break-fix cycle leading your project into a morass
Methods of Project Scheduling
Forward Pass and Backward Pass
Psychological Aspects to project planning failures
âYou want the flight attendant, not the pilot, to be an optimistâ
You want hard-nose analysis when planning a project, not unbounded optimism2.
- One common problem is a rush to commit to the first suitable option rather than evaluating all potential options2.
- Lock in occurs when the organization acts as though the path or option they chose is the only way to proceed2.
- Prematurely locking in is what the author calls the âcommitment fallacyâ2.
- Unchecked optimism and snap judgments lead to poorly scoped projects2.
- âplanning fallacyâ - common underestimation of time required to complete tasks even in the face of conflicting information2.
- Tendency to picture the best-case scenario as the best-guess scenario2.
- âbias for actionâ - action weighs heavy on decision makers, and they tend not value planning particularly in the face of progress.2.
- âsunk cost fallacyâ2.
- Donât assume you know all there is to know2.
- What you see is all there is (WYSIATI) fallacy2.
1. Duke, A. Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Donât Have All the Facts. (Portfolio, New York, 2019).
2. Flyvbjerg, B. & Gardner, D. How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between. (Currency, New York, 2023).