Plan

Planning = a process of anticipating and decision-making, and assigning responsibility for tasks

WHAT

• What is the activity?

WHY

• Purpose or Intent? Intent guides as the situation changes
• Desired outcome?
• Target group of people?
• What goal or objective does the activity support?

WHO

• Who is participating in the activity?
• Availability? Capacity? Commitment?
• How many people to be accommodated?
• Communicate details to who? How early? How often?
• Information and invitations sent to members?
• Who presides at this event?
• Key people (experts, etc.) needed?

WHEN

• When is the activity? Date? & Time?
• Date conflicts? Near major holiday? Other activities?
• How much time available before START?

WHERE

• Where will the activity happen?
• Permissions needed for the space?
• Venue booking reservations needed?
• Where will people meet before START?

HOW

• What did we decide to change from our last activity?
• Identified success measures?
  • Desired specific measures we seek to achieve?
  • Success criteria?
• Backwards plan from the END back to the START
  • Visualize the activity (a testable prediction or hypothesis)
  • Essential task assignments?
  • Dependencies of one task on another?
  • Sequence actions
• Options? Courses of action?
  • Comparison of each option/course of action
  • Decide which way to do the activity
• Criticality?
  • Rehearsals needed? Small scale pilot test?
  • Any weaknesses in the planning?
  • Confidence to be gained?
  • Skill drills needed?
  • If automatic, fast responses needed

Constraints / Limits

• Budget?
• Time limits?
• Organizational policy limits?
• Eligibility requirements (age, skills)?
• A resource with capacity limits?
• Supports goals/objectives?
• Tradeoffs?

Bounding Assumptions

Be Prepared

• Prerequisite Skills needed?
  • Training needed? How far in advance?
• Resources needed?
  • Who assigned for each?
  • Lead time to get resources?
  • Contracts required?
  • Porta-potties, dumpsters?
• Fees
  • License fees?
• Equipment needed?
  • Who will buy it? Who already has it?
  • Who will bring each item?
  • Binoculars?
  • Knives, axes, saws?
  • Shovels
  • Food prep
  • Pots, pans, cooking utensils, forks, knives, spoons
  • Water container, bladder, canteen
  • Audio visual needs?
• Consumable Supplies needed?
  • Water? How much? How transported?
  • Fire related: Firewood or charcoal? Fire starter?
  • Food?
    • How much? How many people served food?
    • Who assigned to purchase which food?
    • How transported?
    • Cooling required?
• Sanitation?
  • Hand cleaning? Alcohol wipes? Soap?
  • Toilet paper
  • Personal Toiletries
• Presentation
  • AV equip, flipcharts / stands / markers / notepaper/ pencils / copies of all exercises / Blue tape
• Will weather impact the activity?
  • If yes, what is the forecast?
  • Weather related clothing needed?
• Visibility
  • Will it be day or night?
  • Portable lights needed?
• Communication / Coordination plan
  • Cell coverage sufficient?
  • Phone numbers with each group?
  • All kept informed of changes
• Travel required?
  • Vehicles needed?
  • Who has this type?
  • Who assigned?
  • Routes? Maps? GPS?
  • Communication between vehicles? Radio? Signals?
  • Reconnoiter actual location?
  • Any changes to plans based on seeing the actual location?
  • Planned stop points (breaks for fuel, restrooms)
• Lodging needed?
  • Tents, bedding, ground cloth, stakes, rain fly
  • Motel/Hotel?
  • Designated Loading/Unloading Area needed?
• Clean Up Plan
  • Clean up plan?
  • How to leave the site better than you found it?
  • Who assigned clean up?
  • Rotation schedule?
• Risks and Mitigating Actions
  • Risks/hazards identified?
  • Handling actions to reduce probability and impact? Triggers?
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  • Probable adverse events?
  • Root cause? Handling actions address root cause?
  • Medical physicals required?
  • Liability issues?
  • Safety brief?
  • Emergency Procedures?
  • Emergency contact information for each person?
  • First-aid kit available?
  • Obstacles?
  • Workarounds?

Do

• Get set
  • Leader arrive early
  • Participants show up
  • How will you deal with early and late participant arrivals?
  • Set up tasks
• Leader briefs planned actions to the group
  • Current situation
  • Review purpose / intent
  • Give direction or context for the activity
  • Explain process to participants
  • Review assignments
  • Assign someone to take pictures
  • Priority of work
  • Describe rules, boundaries
  • Check for understanding
  • Check everyone understands objectives
  • Coordinating instructions
• Inspections (critical gear)
  • Equipment, weather clothing, personal protective equipment (PPE)
  • Food, water, food prep equipment
  • Safety brief
• Go
  • Engage, Get it done, Have fun, Run activities
  • Respond to unfolding interaction with the environment
    • Assigned prep tasks done?
    • Expected vehicles arrived?
    • Make assignments
    • Outside information?
    • Apply previous experience
    • Contingency / backup plan in case of no-shows, etc.
    • Issue management
    • Degree of flexibility built-in?

Check

• WHEN
  • Immediately after activity
  • Timeliness helps learning process / improvement / progression
  • Closed loop, feedback to participants
• Evaluate actual against plan
  • Review purpose/intent
  • Gauged effectiveness?
  • Met success measures?
  • Achieved the desired outcome?
  • Closer to or further from goals/objectives?
  • Before-and-after comparison / Plan versus actual
• Facilitate lessons learned reflection (Agile retrospective)
  1. What went well?
     • Key events
     • How well did backplanning predict what actually happened?
     • Knowledge or skill gained?
  2. What didn't go so well?
     • Any surprising results emerged?
  3. What can we do better next time?
     • NOT a lecture, NOT to embarrass anyone, NOT a gripe session
• Report to stakeholders
  • Assignment of report to who?
  • Who attended? Impact to participants? Pictures?
  • Thank you notes to volunteers?

Adjust

• What 1 thing will we do differently next time?
• Adopt, Adapt, Abandon (Pivot)
• Disposal of leftover food, materials, supplies
• Submit any receipts
• File any accident reports