Planning
Keep the plan alive
The plan should not be treated as sacred. It is a working document. It should change when reality changes.
The danger is at both extremes. Some teams do not plan enough, so everything becomes reactive. Others create a plan and then defend it long after it has stopped making sense. Neither is useful. A good plan gives structure without becoming a prison.
Review the plan regularly. Check what is done, what is blocked, what has changed, what decisions are needed and whether the original scope still holds. When changes happen, record them. Inform the right people. Adjust the timeline honestly. Quiet changes become loud problems later.
Plan for the parts that may misbehave
A plan that only works if everything goes perfectly is not a plan. It is a wish with formatting.
Every project needs basic risk thinking. What could delay us? What could cost more than expected? Who might need to approve something? What if a key volunteer drops out? What if the supplier is late? What if the funding does not arrive when expected? What if the technology refuses to cooperate, because technology enjoys timing?
You do not need a complex risk system for every small project. A simple “Plan B” log is enough: risk, likelihood, impact, owner and response. The aim is not to predict every disaster. It is to stop obvious problems from arriving as if nobody could possibly have imagined them.
Make the project visible before it bites
Planning is not the glamorous part of project work. Nobody starts a charity campaign or a small business improvement project because they are spiritually moved by a spreadsheet. Still, planning is where a project either becomes possible or starts lying to itself.
A good plan does not predict the future perfectly. It makes the work visible enough that people can question it early. What are we actually delivering? Who is doing the work? What depends on what? Where could this fall apart? What have we forgotten because everyone was being optimistic and tired?
For small businesses and charities, planning matters because resources are usually thin. There may be limited staff, limited money, volunteer capacity, funder deadlines, board approvals, supplier delays and normal daily work happening at the same time. The plan is not there to impress anyone. It is there to stop the project becoming a vague group feeling with a deadline attached.
Set the boundaries
The first job of planning is scope. Scope defines what the project will deliver and, just as importantly, what it will not deliver.
This sounds obvious until the project begins. A website redesign becomes a brand refresh. A fundraiser becomes a community festival. A small internal improvement becomes “while we’re at it, could we also fix the entire organisation?”
That is scope creep. It usually arrives politely. Nobody says, “I would like to destroy your timeline.” They say, “Could we just add one small thing?”
A useful scope statement should answer a few basic questions: what is the project for, what will it produce, who is it for, what is out of scope, what deadline matters, and who can approve changes. If nobody can say what is outside the project, then everything is potentially inside it. That is not ambition. That is a trap.
Break the work down
Once the scope is clear, break the project into smaller pieces. This is the basic idea behind a Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS. The name sounds more dramatic than it needs to. It simply means taking a large goal and cutting it into manageable chunks.
For a charity event, the main work might break into venue, volunteers, sponsors, promotion, ticketing, accessibility, risk, and post-event reporting. Each of those can then be broken down again into tasks.
This matters because big project goals hide workload. “Organise the event” sounds like one task until someone has to book the venue, confirm insurance, write copy, design posters, brief volunteers, arrange catering, test the payment link and make sure nobody forgot toilets, which somehow always become everyone’s problem too late.
Breaking the work down also makes ownership clearer. Each task should have a named owner. Not “the team.” Not “someone.” A person. Shared work is fine. Shared responsibility without ownership is where tasks go to become ghosts.
Map the sequence
After the work is broken down, put it in order. Some tasks can happen at the same time. Others depend on something else being finished first.
You cannot print flyers until the design is approved. You cannot launch the booking page until the ticket price is confirmed. You cannot start refurbishment until materials are ordered. You cannot train volunteers until you know what they are being trained to do.
A simple Gantt chart can help here. It does not need to be beautiful or complicated. It just needs to show tasks, dates, owners and dependencies. The point is to make the timeline visible enough that the team can see where pressure will build.
This is especially important for small organisations because people are often working across several roles. A plan that looks fine on paper may collapse when one person is responsible for six tasks in the same week while also doing their normal job. Planning should reveal overload before burnout has to do the announcement.
Strategy is not planning
Strategy, planning, implementation and governance are related, but they are not the same thing.
Strategy chooses the direction. Planning works out the route, resources, timeline and responsibilities. Implementation does the work. Governance checks whether the work still makes sense, still has authority, and still deserves support.
Confusing these creates trouble. A detailed plan is not a strategy. A busy organisation is not necessarily a strategic one. A project delivered on time can still be the wrong project. That is the uncomfortable part people often avoid: good execution does not rescue a bad choice. It just delivers the mistake more efficiently.
Choose what not to do
A useful strategy creates focus. It says yes to some things and no to others. This is where many small organisations struggle, especially charities and mission-led businesses. When the cause matters, every opportunity can feel morally important. Every grant looks tempting. Every partnership seems worth exploring. Every service gap feels like something you should fix.
But saying yes to everything is not generosity. It is strategic self-harm.
A charity that chases every available funding stream may end up running projects that do not fit its mission, confuse staff, exhaust volunteers and make the organisation harder to explain. A small business that copies every competitor may lose the thing that made it distinctive. A team that keeps adding initiatives without stopping anything is not becoming more ambitious. It is building a museum of unfinished intentions.
Strategy requires trade-offs. What will you not do? Which customer or beneficiary will you prioritise? Which projects will you pause? Which “nice idea” does not deserve resources right now?
The strategy is often hidden in the no.
Tools to use
Use to define the purpose, deliverables, boundaries, budget, deadline and decision-maker before the work begins.
Use to break the project into smaller tasks and assign ownership.
Simple WBS Template
Use to map the sequence of work, deadlines and dependencies.
Gantt Chart
Use to prepare for the most likely problems before they become issues.
Plan B / Risk Log
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
— Dwight D. Eisenhower
Recommended reading & sources
Project Management Institute – A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)
A widely used reference for understanding the main stages of project work, including initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and closing.
Cooper, R.G. – Winning at New Products
Useful for understanding the Stage-Gate approach, where projects are checked at key points before more time and money are committed.
Hartman & Ashrafi – “Development of the SMART Project Planning Framework”
Helpful for turning vague project intentions into clearer, measurable and more realistic goals.
Tesfaye et al. – “Key Project Planning Processes Affecting Project Success”
A useful read on which parts of planning have the strongest influence on project outcomes.
Kujala et al. – “Stakeholder Engagement: Past, Present, and Future”
Good for understanding why involving the right people early can prevent resistance, missed requirements and unpleasant surprises later.
Henry Gantt / Gantt chart resources
Useful for beginners who want a simple visual way to map tasks, dates, dependencies and milestones.