Plan the Work and Work the Plan

Most successful projects follow a formal project plan. Without a plan, teams will wander around in circles and create busy work so that they appear to be making progress. This is a leadership problem. Leaders must "plan the work and then work the plan."

But there are times when a project plan causes more problems than it solves. Here are a few examples of what to avoid:

Complexity - when a plan becomes so complex that it's hard for the participants to comprehend, you are already in trouble. You team should look at the plan and make immediate sense of the plan itself. Many team members will not admit that they don't understand the plan, so it's on the leader to make certain it's not any more complex than absolutely required.

Disconnected - some plans are not an accurate reflection of the actual work that the teams are doing. In these cases, the plan looks more like what the leader thinks we should do rather than what we are doing. A great example of this is where the leader creates more work than is necessary, and then calls it "rigor."

Inaccurate - another pitfall of plans is that they fall out of date with the work that's going on. The plan is old or inaccurate, which makes it misleading or confusing. The leader must make sure that the plan stays up to date and current -- the key here is to have a formal change control process and make sure everyone is following the actual plan of record.

Inaccurate - another pitfall of plans is that they fall out of date with the work that's going on. The plan is old or inaccurate, which makes it misleading or confusing. The leader must make sure that the plan stays up to date and current -- the key here is to have a formal change control process and make sure everyone is following the actual plan of rec