When Planning Has to Be Quick

Optimizing project planning with time-saving strategies

Even when we have the time, using time-saving tricks can help us focus on tasks that have no real shortcuts or just need more attention. Planning can be repetitive from project to project, especially when working with the same teams on domain areas because the themes of the type of work, the people, and the resources available will be the same, and over time, knowing how well the people work together can help with estimations. When moving fast, removing repetitive work is the highest-value place to focus our energy. Here are the areas with highly repeatable effort that we can reduce the time spent on:

• Repeatable high-level estimates

• Management checklists

• Project plan templates

• Buffering

Let’s explore each of these.

Repeatable high-level estimates