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PANORAMA
CARD PLANNING:
How to Accelerate and Improve
Project Planning for Groups
I.
OBJECTIVES OF PANORAMA CARD PLANNING:
A. Dramatically increase group members' participation in the planning process
and virtually eliminate "waiting to be heard". This method can be
used in small or large groups.
B. Form an environment that fosters creativity.
C. Significantly reduce time spent in the planning process.
D. Improve the quality of the plan overall and enhance its execution.
E. Provide a potent panorama and an eagle's view of the project.
II.
COMMON GROUP PROJECT PLANNING METHODS ARE INEFFICIENT.
Project planning by a group is generally done by having one member stand at
a flipchart and record items offered by the group members. The completed flipchart
pages are then taped to a wall. During this process three major disadvantages
are experienced:
A. While the person recording the items is writing one thought, the other
group members have to wait for the recorder to finish writing before they
can voice their idea. This tends to suppress or at best reduce people's participation
and creativity. This method is extremely time consuming and often tiring.
B. Thoughts are recorded in a linear fashion on the flipchart and their order
cannot be physically rearranged without rewriting the items or "cutting
and
pasting".
C. One or two strong members tend to dominate the process.
III.
STEPS OF THE PANORAMA CARD PLANNING TECHNIQUE:
A.
Each group member is provided at least 20 panorama cards and a pen.
B. The facilitator asks the group, gathered around a conference table, to
do the
following:
1. Think of all the items and aspects of the project that must be
considered to ensure its successful completion.
2. Call out the items as you think of them and write them at the top of the
card.
(
The facilitator could give people the option of not calling out the item
and only writing it on the card, then adding it to the other cards. This
allows more timid members to participate, but less publicly.)
3.
Do not censure or vote on any ideas brought forth at this time. Regard
all items as valid for the moment. We will edit and refine them later.
NOTE: People typically call out and write items like the following:
"Determine
our budget" > written as BUDGET
"Design new incentive plan" > written as INCENT. PLAN
"Conduct employee survey" > written as EE SURVEY
"Establish milestones and timeline" > written as MILESTONES/TIMELINE
"Get A.D. to buy-in" > written as ENROLL A.D.
"Include the Marketing Department" > written as INCLUDE MKTNG.
C.
The facilitator encourages group members to keep thinking of project elements
and the facilitator may participate as well. When the group seems to have
exhausted all possibilities, the facilitator has everyone stand up and move
around to one side of the table. A long piece of butcher paper, about 6 feet
(or taped together flipchart pages), is spread out on the table underneath
the
panorama cards. The cards are then arranged so that they can all be seen and
read from that side of the table.
D. The facilitator
instructs people to move the cards into "like" categories or groupings
and move them to a likely time position on the paper (see Exhibit) time moving
from left to right. Now the facilitator invites editing and additions.
E.
After the group has more or less agreed on where the cards ought to be placed,
tape the cards in place onto the butcher paper. Now the whole display is taken
from the table and tacked to a wall where everyone can stand before it and
get an eagle's view of the project. Now further fine tuning can take place
such as eliminating cards, adding new cards, rewording them, and repositioning
them. Now the group sees a potent panorama of the entire project's elements
placed relative to time.
F. The facilitator leads a discussion to determine by what date each item
must be completed and by whom. The dates and people's names are written on
the cards. More fine tuning may happen.
G. Soon the group will be viewing a full panorama of the project complete
with timeline, action items, "by when" dates, and the names of who
will perform the actions to produce the stated results. The panorama reveals
the key aspects and critical paths for the undertaking. (See Exhibit)
H. At some point the process is declared complete. The panorama of the project
can be typed in sections on a computer and printed on standard size paper
. The pages of sections may be joined together to recreate the entire display.
In this way the panoramic plan can be easily distributed and exhibited in
multiple locations.
I.
Panorama cards indicating ownership of certain project elements can be taken
by the owner after typing as described above. Those panorama cards can go
directly into people's personal PROJECT PANORAMA™ to prompt them to take
action when they do their daily "eagle's view".
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