Planning When Too Much Is Unknown

Sometimes you just can’t wrap your arms around a project because the unknowns far outweigh the knowns. Short of making yourself crazy, you need to accept the situation for what it is and work around the unknowns the best you can.

Let’s say you have a project scheduled for the first quarter of 2016 with a half dozen variables that would change the planning, process, and execution. The unknowns aren’t going to become known until an precariously short time before the deadline.

Maddening, isn’t it? Well, you don’t need to despair. You can use scenario planning to sketch out the possibilities.

Begin with the end in mind. You can outline the project on one piece of paper to start, and expand in project management software or a simple spreadsheet later.