Creative Project Planning ideas

http://workincolour.com.au/

Plan that
(Creative) Project
Monday, 3 August 2009

The left brain is about:
words
numbers
logical thinking
sequences
rational thinking
analysing
being objective
looking at parts

The right brain is about:

rhythm colour
imagination daydreaming
spatial thinking intuition
holistic thinking
synthesising being subjective
looking at the whole

It’s about
using your
whole
brain, not
just one
side or the
other...

creative
project
planning
happens
in 4 steps

1. vision
2. current reality
3. action steps
4. keeping it going

1. vision


What is it I really want?

How will I know when I have it?

2.current
reality


what is my
current reality in
relation to this
project really
like?

woods or trees?


3.
action
steps
(5 ways to
plan stuff)

VISION

ACTION STEPS
1. ____________________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________

6. ____________________________________________________
7. ____________________________________________________

8. ____________________________________________________

CURRENT REALITY


ACTION STEPS TIPS
1. This is the simplest possible way to plan your project.

2. First, get your Vision and your Current Reality as clear as you
can and write a compelling paragraph (or dot points) in the
relevant boxes.

3. Next, plot the obvious action steps ..don't worry about gaps.
It is a trap for young players to overplan. An overall strategy is
great, with as much detail as you can for now.

4. For each major action step, you can create a ‘Subordinate
Chart’ to break that action step into its own action steps.

5. For each action step, ask yourself:
Is it brief, accurate and concise?
Does it have a due date?

6. Overall, ask:
If I do all these steps, would I get to my vision?

7. If No, see if you can plug any gaps – if not, just be aware of
them and see if the missing bits become clear as you proceed.


mindmap your project

renew
call community
teaching gig
someone
each day
existing
keep business
see
someone family healthy meditation projects
each
weekend and daily
finish
friends walks
Canberra
project
shorter
hours?
garage
sale
keep day
??? money job
write that novel
research
trip to
Cairns
20 hours
do outline per week sell shorter
excerpts
make a living from (articles) use
research
writing to develop
articles
editing
course
organise time
book for
Feb
networking
big rocks
& contacts
4
quadrants call
join
writers editors
???
group


MINDMAPPING TIPS
1. This is a great tool for great tool for generating ideas &
planning, as it works with left and right brain, logical and holistic at
the same time. It’s a bit like making a street map to your
destination.

2. Put an image in the centre for the main idea - add a word or
phrase.

3. Use a colour to draw a branch out from the centre, or a bubble
floating nearby...add a word that relates to an aspect of your
project.

4. One word or concept per branch/bubble, each branch
connecting to the central image...

5. Add sub branches/bubbles around the main ones.

6. Use pictures to prompt your memory.

7. Lots of colour is great.


blueprint your project

family and friends renew community teaching gig

call someone each day existing business
see someone each weekend projects
finish Canberra project

keep healthy keep day job / shorter hours?

daily walks
money
meditation garage sale sell shorter
excerpts
(articles)
use research to develop
do outline articles

write that novel
???
research trip to Cairns
organise call editors
time networking &
20 hours per week
4 quadrants ???
contacts
big rocks join writers group

editing
course
book for Feb


BLUEPRINTING TIPS
1. This is a great tool for spatial planners, who like to see visual representations where
the relationships between elements is clear.

2. Draw the spaces for your project as if you were doing a floor plan for a house.
Experiment with number of rooms, links between rooms and sizes until you feel it is
right. More important
aspects of your project will have a bigger ‘room’ and areas that link together should
be placed next to each other.

3. Each room represents a core aspect of your project. So, if your goal is to support
yourself from writing, a core aspect will be to write your novel! Put these in words in the
centre of each room.

4. In another colour and smaller print, put in known aspects of the core, medium term
goals and ongoing elements. If you know there is more, but don’t know what it is, use
question marks.

5. From here, you can either make monthly or weekly ‘to do’ lists for each room, or
copy your plan with just the room names so you can write in week-to-week tasks (or
monthly for slower
projects). One week, for example, your writing blueprint might have ‘teach writing
course at local school’ in the ‘Money’ room and ‘ring Susan from literary agency’ in
the ‘Networking and Contacts’ room.


LISTING YOUR PROJECT
ONGOING URGENT SHORT-TERM MEDIUM-TERM LONG-TERM

Daily walks Book editing course Finish Canberra project Shorter hours/day job First draft

Meditation Renew community Call editors Cairns research trip Final draft
teaching gig
Call a friend daily Call Susan literary Join writers group Find an agent Publish!!
agency
See a friend weekly Garage sale Write 3 articles for Holiday to celebrate!
publication
Plan each week Outline of novel Solve plot problem re
barrier reef trip???

TIPS
1. This is a great tool for people who love lists, who like linear organising of tasks.
2. Put all the tasks you can identify into these 5 categories.

3. Do the things in the first 2 columns until all the urgent tasks are done. Then make a new ‘urgent’ list and rethink the short-, medium- and
long-term lists.
4. If you know there is more to do, or an element that isn’t clear, but don’t know what it is, use question marks.

Joanna Maxwell info@liveincolour.com.au Phone: 0421 310 370 www.liveincolour.com.au
© Polaris Associates Pty Limited 2006


STORYBOARDING YOUR PROJECT

MODULE: Sell short articles
JOB: Write article about Cairns holidays
TIMING: During September
LOCATION: Sydney / Cairns
DO FIRST: Research on Cairns / trip to Cairns / pitch to
travel editor

OR

Write article about Cairns holidays
During September
Do research on Cairns first


STORYBOARDING TIPS
1. This is a great tool if you know lots of tasks you need to do, but aren’t yet
sure how they fit together.

2. Put each task you can identify onto separate 3x5 card (or even a post-it
note).

3. If you are at the stage of knowing quite a bit, you can follow the first
example above, with lots of info about your task. If not, use example 2 or
even 3 as your guide. (You can always
add more detail later!)

4. If you know there is more to do, or an element that isn’t clear, but don’t
know what it is, use question marks.

5. Pictures or diagrams can be useful.

6. Once you have a big pile of cards, organise them in the way that works
best for YOUR project - either in modules or timelines, or...?. Spread them out
and move them around until some sense of order emerges.

7. You can stick them on a cork board (or on the wall if they are post-it
notes) so you can have them both in modules and timelines at the same
time, a bit like a graph chart with modules down the side and time frames
across the bottom.

8. Or you can organise them in piles based on when they need to be done,
then just work through each pile in its allotted time frame.

4.
keeping
it
going

Urgent! Not!Urgent
I II

Important!
(MANAGE)! (FOCUS)!
! Crisis! ! Preparation/planning!
! Medical!emergencies! ! Prevention!
! Pressing!problems! ! Values!clarification!
! Deadline"driven!projects! ! Exercise!
! Last"minute!preparations! ! Relationship"building!
for!scheduled!activities! ! True!recreation/relaxation!
Quadrant!of!Quality!&!Personal!
Quadrant!of!Necessity!
Leadership!
III IV
(AVOID)! (AVOID)!
Not!Important!

! Interruptions,!come!calls! ! Trivia,!busywork!
! Some!mail!&!reports! ! Junk!mail!
! Some!meetings! ! Some!phone!
! Many!“pressing”!matters! messages/email!
! Many!popular!activities! ! Time!wasters!
! Escape!activities!
! Viewing!mindless!TV!
© FRANKLIN
shows!
COVEY
Quadrant!of!Deception Quadrant!of!Waste


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