The Planning Process Most Leaders Skip

Every project is going to have its hiccups. Today I want to show you a simple process that will allow you to foresee and avoid the traps that are bound to crop up in all of your upcoming transformative projects.

It’s called Pixar planning, and it’s one of easiest plays to run as you lead and operate a major program, even if you don’t have a ton of expertise in the area that you are leading. Pixar planning is experimental planning through the simulation of the impending project. It gets it’s name because it’s the same creative process that is used a Disney’s Pixar to plan the mega-hits they have produced over the years.  By simulating the project ahead of time, you get to make all of your mistakes, deal with the people issues, and learn when to expect delays, so you can build a better project in the end.

Why Simulated Planning Matters

I’m always surprised by how many project leaders don’t spend time simulating their projects. Our first attempt at a task is rarely our best attempt. You can think of a project simulation as a dress rehearsal, requiring a lot of time and care upfront but definitely sparing you from the struggles and headaches later, when it really counts.

For example, let’s say you’re rolling out a new generative AI capability within your organization. If you chat with the users before rolling it out, you might find that 90 percent of them are already using GenAI for things like research and analytics outside of your IT environment. If your new plan doesn’t include all the AI capabilities that your users are accustomed to using on other platforms, there’s a good chance that your new plan is not worth rolling out. Your users are unlikely to use a new tool unless they can see that it’s better than the tool they currently use. 

If you’re not having these conversations—or at least simulating these conversations—you’re just guessing what people want. And guessing is not how great projects are run.

Simulations allow you to anticipate issues and solve problems in the relatively cheap environment of planning. It’s when you discover these issues in the midst of implementation that costs go through the roof, timelines are extended, and executives are embarrassed. 

That’s why simulation is so powerful.

Here’s how it works.

Building a Rigorous Plan Requires Testing, Not Theory

To start with Pixar planning, the first thing you need is a little bit of time. Oftentimes, folks are anxious to get started on their project, but time and time again I have found that mistakes are made as a result of rushing the planning process.

First, if you’re not clear on the objectives of your project and how the organization will judge success, do not pass go. I’ll explain more about this concept in another post. 

But let’s assume that you do have a good idea of what you are looking to achieve at the end of your project. The first small step is to outline the project step by step. I’m not talking about creating a 1,000-row Microsoft Project plan, but simply outlining where you are, where you are going, and what is going to happen to get from here to there. This is a document that you should share with a variety of professionals in your organization across different departments. People will read it and offer criticisms, questions, and concerns. Then, typically, you should go back and revise your outlined project plan. It’s not mandatory that you respond to all feedback—the only requirement is that the plan gets better.

Simulation Is the Way to Test Your Plan

The next step is the important part, the part that separates transformation from disaster. Your team should take the project plan, discuss it, and document a detailed simulation of the activities of the project. Each person on the team takes a different role in the organization. Now the project is in a crude form. This part of the process takes time and is a fairly big investment, though it’s small in the context of the cost of actual implementation.

The next step is then to share your revised project plan with the same executives that you initially shared it with. Again, you will hear feedback from your various stakeholders and respond accordingly until the plan has improve once more. After a few rounds of this, the project leader has an extremely detailed and rigorously tested proof of concept, and they know exactly how the project will be implemented.

In Conclusion

When you actually spend the time planning, the actual work of planning, you’re going to have a much better chance at achieving the goals of your project.

The tough part? You have to execute!

Remember, here’s the plan:

Step 1: Outline the project plan, collecting feedback, questions, and comments from a cross-functional team.

Step 2: Simulate the project with each member of your team playing a specific role.

Step 3: Revise the project plan and get another round of feedback, questions, and comments.

Step 4: Repeat Step 3 until you have a detailed and rigorously tested project plan.

I hope these simple steps help you see that doing this type of planning can be a lot easier than you imagine.

What are you waiting for?

Try it today.