Have you heard of the Ford Edsel story? In the late 1950s, the famous vehicle manufacturer launched the Edsel to fill the gap between their luxury and budget models — a great idea in theory, but it’s now regarded as their biggest failure.
The creators failed to predict customer preferences toward smaller cars and ignored negative feedback from focus groups.
This situation could’ve been prevented by paying attention to the warning signs.
By considering events that might happen long before they do, you ensure your team is ready to prevent issues and handle risks, resulting in better productivity and performance. This is called scenario planning.
Keep reading to see the 3 steps you should follow to develop scenarios and use them effectively by relying on project management software.
Table of Contents
1. Identify potential key issues
The first step of scenario planning is defining the points that cause uncertainties.
The project team is typically able to identify potential issues — delays, inaccurate estimates, resource shortfalls, and so on — based on previous experience with similar projects.
To avoid overlooking anything important, you should make a list of the key issues. This is where project management software comes in handy — one such example is Plaky.
In Plaky, you could itemize the issues most likely to happen and further define them through customizable fields. For instance, you may add short explanations and specify which project stage the items fall under. This gives you a good foundation for the next step of scenario planning.
Project risks are a great starting point when you want to establish the main scenario drivers, so be sure to take a look at the risk register.
2. Develop multiple scenarios
Seeking viable solutions for potential hurdles may look different for each segment of the project. By keeping the primary project goals in mind, you ensure that every scenario leads to a successful outcome.
Keep scenario development simple — there is a potentially limitless number of outcomes even with just a few key triggers, so let’s not get overwhelmed. We suggest going for 2–5 scenarios per project.
If you want to make this step as straightforward as possible, give Plaky a try. Create a new group of items for each scenario and specify the variable details — predicted timeframes, staffing plans, budget restrictions, etc. — through the custom fields mentioned.
To save you some time, Plaky allows duplicating items. If you’re on one of Plaky’s paid plans, you can also perform bulk actions, making the scenario planning process even more efficient.
3. Visualize scenarios with a Gantt chart
Gantt charts are popular because they allow you a bird’s eye view of the project schedule and progress — which is ideal for scenario planning.
If this sounds practical, use Plaky’s Gantt chart view to see how experimenting with different scheduling scenarios, risk mitigation measures, resource allocations, etc. affects the core project plan.
By looking at multiple scenarios within the same Gantt chart, you can visually compare the implications of each scenario to make informed decisions and secure the optimal outcome.
In the Gantt board view, Plaky also lets you customize the format of the period covered — day, week, month, quarter, or year — depending on what time period your scenario covers.
Shorter timeframes are perfect for tracking short-term milestones, while longer time stretches are suitable for broader project phases.
With clear visualization, analyzing each scenario with your team is much easier, enabling you to:
- Fine-tune the project goals,
- Tackle unclear roles and responsibilities,
- Improve resource allocation,
- Adapt to various potential challenges, and
- Focus efforts on achieving the most favorable scenario.
Make scenario planning simple with Plaky
Now that you know how to do scenario planning, you just need to opt for the right project management tool to make the process as smooth as possible.
According to recent project management software statistics, users choose such tools primarily based on functionality, price, and ease of use. Looking at those criteria, Plaky is the perfect candidate thanks to its reliability, affordability, and intuitive design.
Plaky helps you manage projects of any size, stay connected to your team members, and keep your information safe.
Don’t hesitate to try Plaky for free today and simplify scenario planning for yourself and the entire team.
If you want a full productivity suite, CAKE.com offers 3 products for 1 price! Check out the Bundle deal, where Plaky comes with the team communication app Pumble and the time-tracking app Clockify.
