Planning specific projects

[vangogh]

Aside from planning out your entire business do you have plans in place for new products or services to offer and how to work them in.

For example I've mentioned that I'm working on developing a WordPress theme, which is a way for me to offer a product in addition to services. Instead of simply jumping in and developing one I spent time researching the market to get a better understanding of what people want in a theme and what others are and aren't offering.

I also spent some time working out how I can best market the theme when it's ready.

We'll see if all those efforts end up being successful, but the ideas is that I'm trying to coordinate a lot of different things and have them all work together in the hopes of having a more successful launch.

When launching something do you plan for how you'll bring it to market? Do you just start offering your new product or service or do you coordinate across your business prior to launch?

[orion_joel]

I wish i could say that i did plan, but essentially no. Well that is not entirely true, i plan in as much that i decide to do something and then go about stumbling through getting it going. Such as my website Business Finds, i had written a handful of articles and was writing a number of articles each week but had no where to put them. So i just installed the script played round with the banner, and set articles to auto publish twice per week.

While it was something that if i had done planning would have probably taken more time to plan then to actually create it, there are times that i think things like this i maybe should put in some more planning, it might (or maybe not) give me a better product at the end of the day.

[vangogh]

Some things would take more time to plan than actually do and in those cases there isn't much reason to plan. I'm thinking more larger projects and planning how you'll market them as you develop.

For example I'm thinking of my theme. I did do some research before developing and while I don't have a formal plan written I am thinking how I'll market things before finishing instead of simply adding it to my site one day with little notice.

[Aaron Hats]

Earlier this year I had planned on starting my own brand of hats then ran into some issues that made me put it on the back burner. I also have a design for a multi-hat hat rack and possibly selling it wholesale or keeping it unique to our store. I also just started importing a brand that isn't in the USA so I would eventually like to get exclusive rights to it. It all boils down to $$.

[vangogh]

Are they just ideas or do you have a specific plan in place for how you'll accomplish each and market each?

[Aaron Hats]

I don't have a written plan but I do have a plan. The three examples I gave are actually all very easy. I've completed nearly everything needed to complete the tasks except write the check.

[vangogh]

I can't say I have a specific plan written out either. More a file with notes that keeps me thinking about things. I'm thinking mainly about how to launch a new product to bring attention to it instead of simply adding it to my site and waiting for people to find it.

I guess what I'm after is a strategy around a product launch that includes the design and development of the actual product along with how to market that product.

For small things it doesn't make sense to put that much planning in, but for somewhat larger products it begins to make sense. Not sure where the line it though between planning and strategizing being a good idea or not.

[Business Attorney]

I have a written plan for some things. Some time I follow them, so times I forget about them.

About 10 years ago I developed a written marketing plan. I never really followed it, but the exercise of pulling together the information and analyzing it to come up with a plan has been very valuable in the intervening years. I saw where my clients have come from over the years. It also told me what avenues had been unproductive.

I also generally put a plan (more of an outline) into place on major projects. If I am handling an acquisition for a client, there are typically a lot of different elements that need to be moving forward at the same time. If I try to wing it, there is a good chance I will realize that we are two weeks away from closing and that there are pieces of the puzzle that are not falling into place like they should.

I find that when I do take a little time to plan, whether it is a legal project, a weekend project at home or a vacation trip, the process goes more smoothly. The end results are sometimes the same, so there may be the temptation to say that the planning was a waste of time, but I find that getting to the end result is almost always easier with a plan.

[vangogh]

Good to know. I think a plan will help make things smoother and also help you to see some things you might overlook. Again it depends on the project. For something small it wouldn't make sense, but if you're going to spend 6 months working on something I would think it would make sense to plan and coordinate a few things.

One thing I think a plan can help with a lot is your marketing. For example say you're working on a product. You estimate it'll take about 3 months to have the product ready for sale. There's no reason you can't begin early marketing now to generate a buzz so when the day comes when you launch your product people might already be talking about it and curious about it.

Of course in order to effectively market something you haven't finished building it helps to have a plan so you know where it's supposed to go. If you develop it randomly it's hard to talk about except in very general terms.

Many of us wear a lot of hats. It's quite possible we're the ones developing the product, marketing it, responsible for collecting the money, etc. But in a larger organization those departments need to coordinate to work together effectively. That makes me think that even though many of us are the heads of every department in our business if it still would work better to coordinate all those departments. The plan as informal as it might be can get you coordinating all the different things you do so when it's launch time everything is ready.

[orion_joel]

I think that you make a great point, in regards to planning a product launch Vangogh. While you may start out think that it will take 3 months to develop a product, making a plan for this and including marketing starting straight away, will give you two very important things. One it will force you to look at the three months in a more solid way, and to work this in as your time frame. Additionally if you begin marketing it means you have a deadline, that other people are going to be expecting. If you give a date in initial marketing it is even more solid.

This isn't to say every product should be done like this to force you to do it, however it may turn up in this planning that where you thought 3 months was enough time, that in fact you really need 6 months, or whatever, but it gets you started on a good path.