The flawless planning workshop
2024 jack ricchiuto | creative commons | FlawlessPlanning.org
Introduction
welcome
In this workshop you will find:
- An overview of the two steps in Flawless Planning
- A tips and worksheets for each step
- Brief videos overviewing the process
- Resources include links to the book and articles on the model
Flawless Planning is an open source planning model
- Easy-to-learn and apply to any simple or complex planning
- Works with personal planning and shared planning with any size group and scope
- It's flawless because the prime flaw in planning is working from assumptions and here we work from questions
- Risks are assumptions, so this is risk-free because it's question-based and there are no wrong answers to our questions
- Question-based means reality-centric; planning goes well when we stay aligned with reality at every point along the way
- Complements any planning model
begin anywhere
The best time to do Flawless Planning is when:
- We have more uncertainties than certainties
- We don’t yet have a clear direction or path forward
- We don’t have everyone on the same page yet
- We don’t yet have all the resources we ideally need
- We expect change will continue to be a constant
scenario selecting
scenario selecting
scenario selecting principle
A scenario is a version of a situation.
We can imagine favorable, unfavorable, likely, and unlikely scenarios for any situation.
We can decide to plan any scenarios we want to plan.
We can change our minds later about other scenarios
scenario selecting tips
Think about how this situation could go.
Locate different scenarios in each of the four quadrants.
Know that the kinds and locations of potential
scenarios could change as we learn our way forward.
Do whatever research that might help you guess how likely or unlikely a scenario could be.
Refresh the matrix as you move forward in planning.
scenario selecting worksheet
What could be some favorable and unfavorable versions of this situation (scenarios)?
How likely or unlikely do we guess each would be?
Where on the matrix would you locate each scenario?
scenario composing
scenario composing
Aspirations: Describe what matters to you here
Inspirations: Visualize what you expect to see and hear and what you'd love to feel and do
Abilities: Name abilities you have to support what you visualize
scenario composing principle
The more we access our aspirations, inspirations,
and abilities, the more able we are to be our best
in any scenario
Visualizing our best means reveals new possibilities in any scenario we’re planning
New possibilities include new ideas, questions,
and opportunities
scenario composing tips
Include in what matters to you what’s important to you and what success could look like
Be as specific as you can in what matters and what success could look like
For favorable and unfavorable scenarios, visualize what you expect to see and hear and what you would love to feel and do
If you can, visualize yourself from inside yourself (first person) and from outside yourself (third person)
Visualize various versions of sensory details of colors, shapes, sounds, feelings, emotions, and actions
Apply these visualization methods to imagining past times when you engaged an ability
scenario composing worksheet
What matters to you in this scenario, and why?
What do you expect to see and hear in this scenario?
What you would love to feel and do in this scenario—visualizing everything and different versions of these?
What do you know how to do that would support your aspirations and inspirations?
What kinds of situations do you recall where you engaged each of these abilities and what did you experience in each?
question growing
question growing
question growing Principle
Our questions guide our ability to be our best in a future scenario.
A plan is the timeline of what questions we’re going to answer, when, and how
Planning is learning: we learn our way into being our best in any future scenario
question growing tips
Translate anything assumed or unclear into questions
Expect you will come up with questions that are actionable (answerable) and those that aren’t
To get to better--new and actionable--questions, generate more questions.
Don’t prevent the growing of questions by trying to analyze them or answer them with assumptions.
Translate open and closed-ended questions into each other; translate short and long term questions into each other; translate parent and child questions into each other.
Question growing worksheet
What are are assumptions--our guesses, speculations, and opinions?
What’s unclear--anything undefined, unconfirmed, and undecided?
How many questions could we turn these into?
How could we come up with more versions and varieties of questions?
question answering
question answering
question answering Principle
Flawless planning is answering the right questions at the right time
Right questions are new, actionable questions.
Right questions can only be answered through actions, not analysis, discussions, and debates
Timing is everything.
question answering tips
Sequence your questions in the order you will answer them. Some will need to be answered before others.
The order could change in the process. Locate each question on a timeline.
Decide what you will do to answer each question. Doing typically involves finding something out, experimenting with something, or deciding something.
New actions will generate new results and new questions, and new results will generate new questions and insights into our scenario composing.
Your plan is simply the outline of what questions you’re answering and when and how you’re answering them.
Question answering worksheet
What would be a good way to sequence our questions?
When will we answer each question (day, week, month, quarter)?
How will we answer each question through action--finding something out, experimenting with something, and deciding something?
resources
Flawless Planning: The art and science of planning anything |Downloadable PDF
Medium Articles on Flawless Planning applications
For more about Jack Ricchiuto and Flawless Planning visit FlawlessPlanning.org