Creating an Iterative Plan During Organisational Change

Do You Know How to Create an Iterative Plan?

When organisational change occurs, we cannot do everything at once, but it can feel like that is what is expected of us. Our natural coping mechanism is to jump from one task to another, convincing ourselves that with more multi-tasking we will get through the backlog!

The Importance of Iterate Planning

The bad news is that neuroscience teaches us that multi-tasking is a myth. The brain is not processing multiple tasks at once, instead it is switching between them very quickly. This constant switching is exhausting, and unproductive. The brain needs time to remember where it had got to, so that it can pick up from our last piece of progress before adding more to the task. This cycle of remembering where we got to, do a little bit, get interrupted by another task, switch back to the original task wastes so much time and leads to errors which trigger re-work which wastes even more time!

A more effective approach is to apply iterative, incremental planning techniques to all work. We don’t need to reserve these skills just for projects, programmes and change initiatives.

Create the Content for Your Iterative Incremental Plan

To work incrementally you need your work to be small, independent activities. Independent means that there is no reliance on other inputs. To break away from dependencies on other projects and the work of other colleagues, break your work into small, specific tasks:

1. Create your To Do list, giving yourself 3 minutes to brainstorm everything that is in your head.
2. Go back over your list, taking each item and breaking it into smaller pieces
3. Go round again, and break it down one more time into specific tasks, however, small

To Do

Apply Tasks to Time 

The next part of creating and iterative plan is to fit your tasks into time slots that you can stick to. Decide on a period of concentration – group your tasks for the next hour, or the whole day.

Create your grouping using a diagram as this visual reminder of what you are doing when and sends an easy-to-understand message to your brain about what it must focus on.

Be ambitious, list the things you think you can get done plus 20% extra – this will trigger your brain to focus and work at pace.

Review Your Iterative Plan

At the end of the time, review what you have achieved, and celebrate everything that you have done – this celebration creates a chemical in the brain called dopamine which gives you energy and creates feelings of motivation for more work! This is a great way to keep motivated. Iterative planning is part of my Agile Change Agent Course that is available for anyone who is involved in organisational change.

To learn more about the Agile Change Agent course, watch this video

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