Making a plan. You’ve already picked the solution for your problem. Now, it’s time to create a plan for its implementation. The following are some guidelines when making a plan. Number one: keep your goals central to your plan. Every solution has a goal. The goal is the specific and measurable change that you want to achieve by implementing your solution. When you make a plan, make sure that all the steps and processes you outline are moving towards this goal. Number two: break down your action plan into concrete steps. A good plan is concrete instead of abstract, specific instead of generic. Think of the different steps that you need to do in order to get your ultimate goal and plan along those milestones. Note the deliverable per milestone, indicate the timeline for each milestone, identify the people responsible for each task. Number three: note all the resources you would need. There are two kinds of resources: human and material. Make a list of all human and material resources that you need to execute the action, and make sure that they are all available. If they are not available, add an extra action plan to procure them. You want to make sure that your plan is realistic given your resources. Number four: plan how the solution would be evaluated. A good plan doesn’t just include the steps to execute the program. It should also include mechanisms for monitoring progress and evaluating results. An evaluation plan ensures that needs for plan revision can be surfaced.
