Good planning begins top-down, however when that’s not doable, plan bottom-up with out shedding sight of the larger image. Right here’s how.
We all know that good planning begins top-down by understanding the technique and drawing your actions from it. Sadly, for numerous causes, it’s not at all times doable to take action. Typically, you have to plan bottom-up, however don’t throw the child out with the bathtub water.
At the start of the 2011 film “I don’t know the way she does it” Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker) must bake a pie for the varsity bake sale. Sadly, she solely remembers it on her return from a enterprise journey the night time earlier than. Dedicated to her household duties, she buys a pie at an open retailer however needs it to look selfmade, so she intentionally ruins it just a little (as a result of who can bake an ideal pie?) and strikes it to a distinct dish.
This scene says loads about attempting to reside as much as what different folks assume, however I wish to have a look at it from a distinct perspective for a second. It’s concerning the compromises that all of us make.
In a really perfect world, I imagine Kate would have wished to bake a pie. However since she (and none of us actually) can’t do all of it, she compromises for a purchased one.
I do know I make many compromises when balancing work and private life. My youngsters may undoubtedly eat more healthy and have their display time managed higher (or in any respect), and I don’t at all times fortunately settle for these compromises. However, all of them know that household is their secure house and that we might settle for and assist them it doesn’t matter what. These are compromises that I’m not keen to make.
Transferring to the skilled world, all of us make compromises there, too. The product chief’s position is so busy that we merely can’t do all of it, and infrequently, different constraints power us to do issues otherwise than we ideally want.
One such space is roadmap planning. My suggestion for roadmap planning is to begin top-down, from the corporate’s technique itself, perceive it in depth, and solely then begin planning how you’re going to make it a actuality. Backside-up planning (coming from what you already know that you really want or have to do) enhances this course of and retains us rooted in actuality.
I extremely advocate following this course of a minimum of annually because it typically unveils essential strategic insights, aligns all departments to work collectively, and will increase the probabilities of assembly your targets somewhat than merely including extra product capabilities.
But it surely’s not at all times doable. In startups, for instance, issues are so dynamic that it typically feels irrelevant to plan too far forward. I might nonetheless advocate making use of the method there, too, but when administration isn’t with you, you would possibly battle to take action.
Even in additional mature corporations, if the corporate doesn’t have a stable technique and doesn’t see the significance of discussing it earlier than planning, you received’t immediately change that DNA.
And typically, for those who don’t have a strategic roadmap, the CEO would possibly need one ASAP, for instance, earlier than a presentation to the board or an essential buyer. Even when everybody understands that planning takes time and that ideally we should always begin on the prime, typically you merely don’t have the time to take action.
So, on the one hand, you need to compromise on one thing. If the CEO wants a presentation for Tuesday you have to have it prepared for Tuesday. However as you make these, there are some belongings you don’t wish to compromise on.
Like many different issues in life, if you need to, you will get a lot of the worth with a smaller effort.
It begins by not forgetting the ‘up’ half, since in any other case you might be simply stacking options on a timeline, which is sort of meaningless.
Here’s a 3-step course of for bottom-up planning that you should utilize if you need to. Preserve it for a wet day.
You’re most likely aware of the idea of “ 5 whys “: asking ‘why’ 5 instances till you get to the foundation reason behind one thing. It’s a typical apply in problem-solving meant to make sure you clear up the precise drawback and never simply the symptom.
Within the product world, we frequently use it with requests we get from prospects or stakeholders to make sure we perceive what they actually need and never simply do what they ask (since they aren’t product managers they usually communicate in options as an alternative of issues).
For planning functions, I counsel you to make use of this methodology to query your self. You have already got many issues you understand you need or have to do subsequent 12 months. For every one, ask your self why you wish to do it. After which ask it once more, and once more, 5 instances or till you get to one thing that feels undebatable or core to your technique.
It may look one thing like this:
We wish to add one other safety layer to our product.
Why? As a result of we’re a safety firm and it’s essential that our merchandise are as safe as doable.
However why now? As a result of our prospects began asking about it.
Why? As a result of they appear to be extra security-aware.
Why? What has modified? As a result of we began promoting to healthcare corporations.
Why did you begin promoting to healthcare corporations? As a result of it’s a strategic alternative that the corporate has determined to pursue.
Do this for each characteristic on the plan to have a greater context for every.
The 5 whys course of forces you to boost your head from the options to the explanations you might be planning to construct them. It’s not as strategic as beginning with the targets and planning for them, however it’s ok if you need to work bottom-up.
Now that we’re on the causes stage, we will begin making sense of it.
On this step, you wish to group your options into bigger initiatives which can be rooted in causes and never in outputs. Have a look at all the explanations that you’ve got found. Almost definitely, lots of them will collide.
Within the instance above, you’ll most likely discover further options that map properly into ‘the healthcare alternative’. Be aware that you simply would possibly must be pragmatic and never purist when you consider these. It could possibly be that there are options that produce other causes, like ‘the corporate’s grand imaginative and prescient’ or different prospects need them too, however the motive for selecting them now and including them to the plan was actually the healthcare alternative. In such a case, it might serve you higher to group them underneath the healthcare alternative somewhat than add one other separate motive.
Ideally, all the things you do needs to be mapped into 3–5 main initiatives or causes. That is essential for the following step.
If you find yourself having extra, see if a few of them will be additional grouped collectively. Ask ‘why’ just a few extra instances — this time on the explanations themselves — to see if you will discover a typical denominator. For instance, when you’ve got ‘take away gross sales obstacles’ and ‘shorter onboarding time’ as main causes, they could match properly right into a extra core motive of ‘scaling our gross sales course of.’
Now that you’ve got 3–5 beginning factors, and all the things you wish to do maps properly into them, it’s time to inform the story top-down so everybody can perceive, keep in mind, and comply with it.
Be aware that whereas we haven’t began the method top-down, and the ‘prime’ on this case could be decrease than the place we would like it available you began with a correct top-down course of, it’s nonetheless essential to inform the story top-down as it’s.
That’s how folks assume, and by telling it that method, you’ll create readability that couldn’t exist in any other case.
Metaphorically talking, if options are the pixels of a picture of a cat, the explanations are its physique elements. As a substitute of describing the colour of every pixel and asking folks to infer that you’re truly speaking a couple of cat, say that you’re describing a picture of a cat and speak concerning the head, the physique, and the background as the right context.
Had we began with an actual top-down method, we might have requested whether or not or not it’s a cat that we needs to be engaged on.
If I’ve to, this can be a compromise I’m keen to make, a minimum of quickly.
Whenever you current your bottom-up constructed plan, see if it’s applicable so as to add a disclaimer that you’re nonetheless engaged on a correct top-down course of, and let everybody know that you’ll replace later as you had been in a position to take action.
Setting expectations about how the plans would possibly change is at all times a good suggestion, particularly when planning bottom-up, since there could be extra issues that you simply would possibly miss this manner.However even when the plan is sure to alter, forcing your self to maneuver up and never stay on the backside ends in a significantly better plan and far clearer communication of it.