The BTS action on your business is how stuff gets moved to DONE! You and your team rolling up your sleeves and diving in. Projects to plan, deadlines to assign, and tasks to delegate. . . not to mention revenue projections, goal setting, and a company culture to support. All essential, all important. You know, it’s a glorious feeling moving those tasks to completion and celebrating your big wins each sprint.
BUT the dark side of operations and planning is that it can become a black hole that sucks you in.
How many times have you been so BTS that you resurface and realize you need a shower, a new outfit, and maybe put on a bra?
Listen I get it. There is no one more BTS than me. Comfy pants on, pandora going on, and planning in full action mode.
There are a few key things to have in place to keep you from setting up shop in operations and planning. We gotta get you out of uber planning mode and into action.
Here’s what I recommend to get you out of planning and into action:
- Plan for 90 Day Increments. You do not need to plan an entire 12m marketing plan down to each and every individual IG Story or Post. The amount of execution time you are wasting is insane if you do that. 90 Days of planning is a good sweet spot. We always have a yearly calendar, including promos per quarter and then break them down by sprint. BUT spending each and every minute planning every finite detail is just perfectionism dressed up in a cute pair of jeans and heels. PROGRESS TIP: As tasks get moved from 90 days to 60 to 30 to Current Sprint— your details and firm plans need to be decided. Important clarification: This doesn’t mean you plan for 90 then don’t plan until the next 90 rolls around.
- Eliminate dry spells. It’s very easy to fall into dry spell cycles. Meaning, you are knee deep in planning then up to the elbows in implementation / forward facing / execution. And the cycle continues, creating a consistent “dry spell” of planning or implementation. You need to be doing both and making sure each are working in coordination NOT in spite of each other. You need to make sure you aren’t ONLY planning or ONLY in forward facing without a plan. PROGRESS TIP: Create regular intervals (like a designated sprint every 60 days) to plan for the next 90. Or have “pop in” days where you plan, review, then get back to your genius zone.
- Create a transparent accountable system. I love that the progress boards keep everything out in the open. No separate to do lists, no hidden projects, no loopholes to get lost in. Creating a system where your team sees the big pie and their pieces naturally keeps everyone accountable and moving down the same path. PROGRESS TIP: If you are new to sprint planning, start with milestone planning. This will help show your team the milestones you’d like to hit and when so they can adjust their work accordingly. As you work together, you’ll see how much easier it is to make the transition from to do’s to task prioritization.
It’s fun to plan, but it also can feed your excuses from going from plan to action. Whether it’s perfectionism, doubt, decision paralysis, or another insecurity. . . my goal is for you to make progress and not get lost in operations and planning.
Remember: ACTION CREATES CLARITY.
If you are have ever been lost or so inundated with BTS action. . . then getting a handle on your 90 day plan is a great place to start. You’ll not only find out how to plan your next 90 days, but you’ll always have an answer for “what do I do next?”.
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