a planning method that doesn't upend everything
Quarterly planning usually happens before the start of the quarter. So, that means I'm kind of late this quarter.
We had a big conference last week, so I decided to see how that went before deciding on the direction for the rest of 2024.
Why lean in on messaging and positioning that didn't resonate with people in person? The conference let us test that and our sales pitch with a fast feedback loop. We either got a lead or we didn't.
Well, we learned a lot last week. Now it's time to plan.
Here's how I'm planning our next few months:
The SOSTAC® Planning Framework. It's a registered copyright thing, so it's linked for reference )and so they don't sue my 🍑).
Situation Analysis: Where are we now? I'm using a simple SWOT analysis and a market analysis that includes our target audience, competitor landscape, and customer insights.
Objectives: Where do we want to go? We have four objectives right now, but I may trim that to three max.
Strategy: How do we get there? These are 3-5 high level focus areas. Ours includes awareness, conversion, monetization, and a few others.
Tactics: What tools and channels will we use? For each strategic focus area, how will we execute? I'm using three tactics per strategic focus area.
Action: Who does what and when? I'll admit to not doing this well before. Assigning ownership of both the strategic focus area and the underlying tasks. Who owns what and when will it be done?
Control: How do we monitor performance? These are the key metrics to watch and gauge success. I like simple, so right now my plan is to manually update a spreadsheet each week. It doesn't scale, but I remember things when I type them in.
Something SOSTAC doesn't cover is capacity. How realistic are these plans? Do we have the people, money, and time to execute? I'm working through how to reality-check our plans against our true capacity.
My plan is to have honest conversations with teammates about how likely it is we can do everything we plan. I do want to push the team - be aggressive. But it's also important to get some wins.
Some of you use EOS. What other planning methods do you use?
Peter (379 / 500)