General George S. Patton once stated, “A reasonable plan executed quickly is better than a perfect plan hatched in a prison camp.” In a dynamic businesses environment, a new type of planning methodology is being deployed, and is being branded “Emergent Planning.” The Emergent Planning approach challenges Project Managers (PMs) to consider the major phases, milestones, and deliverables at the outset of a project, and how they can evolve over the course of the project.
The most common occurrence in a project lifecycle is that unforeseen events occur that require adjustments to the strategies. The Emergent Strategy model enables the PM to adapt to these changes, and follows the evolution from the initial, intended strategy to the actual, realized strategy. Emergent Planning is a fundamental approach for managing in dynamic environments. These changes, however, have implications for budgeting, resource planning, and strategy. While the overall plan is in place, the individual stages can often be revised to ensure the best possible outcome. Although planning normally attempts to remove risk, in a dynamic environment, the greatest risk may be losing your window of opportunity. Emergent planning can help mitigate this risk.
Emergent Planning is gaining favor with professional PMs in many industries. In a recent article in the Project Management Journal, a survey of 31 PMs found that this approach was strongly supported, and attracted the greatest consensus among the study’s participants.
An important characteristic of this approach is that the PMs have less time to implement the plan for the next phase. The PM needs quick and reliable access to skilled resources. The emergent planning process dictates that the right resources are available to the project team in a shorter timeframe. As a result, the PM has less time to adjust and schedule work. Emergent Planning requires a flexible and rapidly deployable partnership approach to resource management in order to properly realize the efficiencies of the core methodology.
Trellist’s unique Project Based Staffing approach allows human capital management to be rapidly activated, deployed, and integrated into a client project within specific phases. Whether from the existing professional services matrix, or our integrated client-side resource offerings, Trellist’s structured yet flexible Resource Management Division responds quickly to Emergent Planning’s agile behaviors to support the resource needs of a Client PM. For more information on the finer points of this approach, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
