Why can planning be hard?
It’s hard even when we’re planning on our own because there are so many uncertainties. The more uncertainties there are, the more challenging it seems to put together a reliable, viable plan. It’s even more challenging when we’re trying to plan something together because we have more uncertainties together than we have alone.
What makes planning easier?
We make planning hard when we wrongly assume it’s about creating certainties. This isn’t a viable strategy if we find ourselves in a universe where uncertainties are the constants. If we don’t like it, we need to find a different universe. We make planning easier when we don’t base it on getting rid of uncertainties. We make it easier when we learn how to turn uncertainties into prime assets for creating the future we want to see.
How do we turn uncertainties into prime planning assets?
Through new questions. We turn uncertainties into questions. We move at the speed of our questions. What we assume and wonder are uncertainties that we translate into questions. What’s unclear, unconfirmed, and undecided are uncertainties and opportunities for new questions. We create the future we want to see one question at a time.
Are there right and wrong questions and answers?
The process involves answering the right questions at the right time. Right questions are new, actionable questions. Planning is about creating something new in the future. We don’t necessarily need a plan to repeat the past. Old, unactionable questions are wrong questions. Wrong answers are assumptions. Right answers are the results of actions on our right questions. All answers to our right questions are right answers.
How much time does it take to learn flawless planning?
It takes about an hour to do our first iteration of the model for one scenario. This involves doing all four steps of Plan mapping, Scenario mapping, Scenario composing, and Question composing. It is very easy to do because it only requires noticing the first things that come to mind in the process. It’s flawless because there is no way to do it “wrong.”
How does flawless planning work when we do it together?
It’s the same four steps. And it’s infinitely easier than flawed planning because we’re planning from our shared questions rather than divisive debates. The process builds trust, which is important because trust is a prime prerequisite to being our best together.
How important is it to protect the language of the model?
This is open source. It’s yours to adapt. Feel free to change any of the language. You can call the model Flawless Planning or Question-based Planning. You can use your own language for the vocabularies of assumptions, ambiguities, scenarios, aspirations, inspirations, or abilities. Use what people most resonate with, and when people use different language for the same ideas, use the variations.
Share any questions, suggestions, or stories you have in learning and mastering flawless planning.