Failing to plan, is just planning to fail.

Leaders need to clearly define the goals for a project, and then ensure that their team investigates the options. But there comes a point for every project when you need to start making decisions about what you will and won't do. I call this "Resolving to a course of action." And one of the best ways to get this done is by having your team create an integrated project plan - one that links all of their efforts together.

"Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.” Peter F. Drucker

No doubt, many of the ideas that your team has come up with are really good. But some of their ideas might not make sense given the constraints of your scope, schedule, and budget. You can't afford to ignore this challenge. In order for your project to be successful, you need to get all of your team's ideas on the table, make some decisions, and then get everyone rowing in the same direction.

Depending on the situation, you might choose to make these decisions by consensus, by a democratic vote, or by executive fiat. But no matter which approach you use, resolving to a course of action and getting everyone to buy into the same plan is often harder than leaders expect. It's not just because people resist change; in many cases, people simply have a different understanding about the details of how things will work.

Failing to have the team resolve to a course of action early on will lead to rework during the project. Someone will complete a task, only to discover that they misunderstood the requirements and will need to do it again. This rework often creates a ripple effect (or a feedback loop) which can be frustrating and demoralizing for the whole team. Of course, rework also causes overruns in budgets and schedules. In fact, research by MIT professor John Sterman and others suggests that rework is a primary contributor to many project failures.

Here's a short clip from my course "Project Management Foundations: Leading Projects" with some additional thoughts about Resolving to a course of action.

Engaging your team to create a project plan can be a powerful technique for uncovering their different perspectives, and ensuring that everyone's efforts will be fully aligned. Just listening to each team member explain the activities that they need to perform, based on what is written down in an integrated project plan, will often reveal gaps and conflicts that could cause real challenges down the road.

The sooner you identify a conflict, the easier it is to resolve it.

Done properly, developing an integrated project plan helps the entire team build a much clearer understanding of what needs to be done, by whom, and when. This is important for leaders, because this shared sense of confidence can help to ensure that your project gets off on the right foot, and that people are held accountable for their work. And it significantly reduces the risk that your project will later be sidetracked by uncertainty, confusion, or rework.

About the Author: Daniel Stanton, PMP is President of SecureMarking and Associate Professor of Operations Management at the Jack Welch Management Institute. He is also the author of "Leading Projects" and "Business Acumen for Project Managers" on LinkedIn Learning.

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