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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Use the Natural Planning Model from David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, moving through purpose and principles, vision, brainstorming, and organizing before identifying your next action. The speaker argues that teams often skip these steps at work, jumping straight into Gantt charts and planning, and only question their purpose once things go wrong.
Key Points
- The model is in chapter three of the GTD book and is often overlooked by GTD practitioners, though the speaker calls it an "unsung hero" of the methodology.
- It is meant to mirror how people plan intuitively in personal life, such as deciding where to go before booking a flight, but which people tend to skip at work.
- Purpose and principles come first: ask why the project matters, what will be different when it is finished, and list non-negotiables such as budget, location, required people, or requirements.
- Vision uses David Allen's "wild success" exercise: imagine a party celebrating the project's successful completion and describe what has happened, which motivates and gives a finish line.
- Brainstorming should be done with other people, to generate creative ideas and anticipate what might go wrong so those risks can be addressed early.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Step 1: Write down the purpose of the project, why it is being done and what will be different in the world when it is finished.
- Step 2: List the principles or "rules of the game," including any non-negotiables such as budget, location, mandatory people, or required elements.
- Step 3: Imagine a successful completion party and write what has happened, what went well, and how the result looks, to define wild success.
- Step 4: Brainstorm with the people who will work on the project, and ideally others with good imagination and common sense, covering creative options and what might go wrong, plus how to avoid or handle each risk.
- Step 5: Filter the brainstorm, since not every idea will be good, then organize the remaining ideas into an order, which is where planning tools such as Microsoft Project may be used.
- Step 6: Ask the GTD question "What's my next action?" to identify the next concrete step toward wild success.
- The speaker notes that the vision step gives a finish line and makes purpose more tangible, which matters for actually doing the work.
- The model is also presented as useful for unpicking complex work projects and for turning personal aspirations into something concrete.
Bottom Line
Planning goes wrong when people skip the why and the picture of success, so the Natural Planning Model's sequence of purpose, vision, brainstorming, and organizing should come before any scheduling or task assignment.
