When you’re leading a project, do you plan every last detail? (e.g. “Guys, we will finish the prototype at approximately 12:15 pm on Tuesday with these features complete.”)  Or do you let everything finish “when it’s done?”  (i.e. “Hey, man, you can finish that whenever.  As long as I can ship it to the client by 2014, it’s all good.”)

You’re probably reading this and thinking, the reality is somewhere in the middle.  Sometimes, you plan and set rigid goals and deadlines, while other times, you let things simmer and see how it lands.

Jacob’s following someone else’s footsteps right now, but will he wander off the beaten path?

Of course, there’s no hard-and-fast rule on when to plan your project and when to explore possibilities, but the following are situations where I’ve found it better to plan than explore, and vice versa.  Your thoughts?

Planning is better when…

• You need to meet a specific deadline.
• The deadline is fast approaching.
• You’re not disciplined enough to finish without having specific goals in mind.
• You’re working with a large team (rather than a small one).
• You have too many ideas on how to get stuff done, but not enough execution.
• There are two predominant ideas on how the project should be done.  (You should try to test out both ideas by building two lightweight prototypes.)
• The customer knows exactly what she wants and how she wants it done.
• You’ve done this type of project before.

Exploring is better when…

• You’re kicking off a project.
• You’ve never done this type of project before.
• The customer doesn’t really know what she wants.
• The customer does have specific implementation ideas, but you’re not sure if they best meet the customer’s goals.
• A teammate has a great idea that might make the project better.
• You have a great conceptual idea, but have no idea how to execute.

-Deborah Fike

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