After the chaos of 2020, the start of a new year brings hopefulness and renewed optimism. And possibly a small amount of panic about heading back into society with your new friend, the ‘Quarantine 15’.
So you set a goal. This year you are going to become super fit and uber-healthy. Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson got nothing on you.
You begin planning, running through scenarios in your head. Maybe you could go plant-based, run marathons, use one of those vibrating muscle belt things.
Hmmm, maybe not.
Weird gadgets aside, projects can be just the same.
There’s an end goal. And, while the business benefit is clear, exactly how to get there is less so.
In this article, we’ll explore how project management uses the scenario planning process to ensure flexibility within projects and make sure all delivery options are covered.
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What is scenario planning?
Scenario planning, sometimes called scenario thinking or scenario analysis, is used by organizations as part of their strategic planning process.
Its aim is to help businesses deal with uncertainty, and make flexible long-term plans based on an assumption about what the future looks like.
By thinking about, and planning for, the different possible scenarios they may face, organizations can increase their chances of being able to respond effectively as the future becomes the present.Scenario planning is most valuable when the future is highly uncertain or not all factors affecting the business can be controlled.
How might it be used in project management?
Scenario planning might not seem to fit within the project environment with known end goals and beautifully planned milestones to achieve. But projects, like pretty much everything else at the moment, are highly likely to change during their duration.
Being responsive in scheduling, resource management, and approach increases your chance of success.
PS: Having Agile project software (like staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud), that makes replanning a breeze, can also help when everything starts to unravel.
Here are 3 ways scenario planning can help your projects succeed:
Helps with Agile product development
Speaking of Agile, scenario planning is almost built into the process.
The end goal is known but the output is achieved through iteration, through trying multiple scenarios and refining them as the future becomes more certain.
Scenarios are also used to help factor in how an end-user might interact with a product so the project team can make sure it meets their anticipated needs.
Helps manage risk
By its very nature, risk identification and management is scenario planning. And it’s worth doing. An industry report voted it the 2nd most valuable project process after stakeholder engagement.
Your job is to basically look at all the things you have to do and imagine all the things that could stop you from achieving them.
- Perhaps your key supplier goes out of business. What options do you have to replace them?
- What if a competitor beats you to a market launch? How are you going to create a new USP for your product that’s in development?
- Imagine a key business stakeholder leaves the company. How can you effectively communicate the project value to their replacement?
Then make sure you have risk mitigation strategies or contingency plans in place.
Helps prepare for changing market forces
Some projects, especially big infrastructure projects, can take a loooong time.
During that time, market forces and trends might change and influence the likelihood of your project being a success.
Consider HS2, a high-speed railway connecting several major UK cities. It’s due to take over 20 years to complete.
What if we’re all traveling by hoverboard by then? Or, you know, there’s been some (more likely) climate change issue that puts people off rail travel?
This is risk identification at a strategic planning rather than operational level. And mapping out these potential scenarios offers an opportunity to consider how you’d respond.
How about some scenario planning examples?
We’ve lived through one of the most uncertain times in recent history. Many businesses have had to pivot to respond to the Covid-19 crisis in terms of their product or service.
Let’s look at how staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud has supported 2 very different organizations with scenario planning during this challenging time.
Example 1: Israeli government’s response to Covid-19
As Covid-19 hit, the Israeli government set up a National Covid-19 Control Center to enable collaboration between the multiple front-line agencies dealing with the crisis.
These teams had never worked together before and there was no centrally coordinated approach for managing information.
By implementing the staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud platform, the Control Center could bring teams together to deliver a unified response. Teams could collaborate in real-time to plan different scenarios, and map possible outcomes, depending on what healthcare equipment they could source.
Using customized forms they were able to set up powerful workflow apps to get the data they needed from hospitals and labs about what was happening on the ground.
Using staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud the Control Center could also tailor their workflow apps specifically to their needs, including setting up a bid management process for suppliers offering resources in response to the pandemic.
Data from the front-line, and information on potential suppliers, were fed into the developing scenarios so planning effort and resources could be deployed where it was needed most.
Find out more about how staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud supported the Israeli government to respond to the Covid-19 crisis in their success story.
Example 2: Citizens Bank’s response to the CARES act
When the American government introduced the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) act in response to the Covid-19 crisis there was no federal guidance as to how to distribute this $2 trillion relief package to those who needed it.
As part of the Act, small businesses could receive Paycheck Protection Program loans so they could retain staff on their payroll and keep thousands of people in work.
Administrators at Citizens Bank had to scenario plan various options to get money to their customers, including a loan approval process in volumes they’d never seen before.
The staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud platform was critical in increasing organizational transparency and reducing silos. The decision to move all the relevant processes to the staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud Work OS enabled departments to collaborate much more effectively. They were able to think through potential workflows and, ultimately, choose a successful option.
Getting everyone up to speed fast was crucial and, due to the intuitive and easy-to-use nature of the platform, Citizens Bank was able to get employees onboarded, scenarios planned, and the loan approval process built within a weekend.
Read more about how, thanks to staging-mondaycomblog.kinsta.cloud, Citizens Bank were able to get nearly $50 million to businesses who needed it, and protect over 8,000 jobs in their success story.
Scenario planning enables agility
Scenario planning can be an extremely valuable tool for project managers delivering projects in these uncertain and volatile times.
The need to stay flexible and responsive to changing requirements while also maintaining organization and structure is critical.
Scenario planning helps you think about possible future action that might be required so you can always stay one step ahead.
A key benefit of scenario planning is helping to forecast and mitigate project risk. Don’t waste all that hard work. We’ve got a great risk register to help you store and manage everything that comes up.
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