Innovation: Learn Fast to Build Fast

For innovative projects, achieving schedule agility AND predictability requires building a balanced planning system that shares direction and is constantly listening for feedback.

Teams working on complex innovative projects will not know everything at the beginning of a project.  Therefore, we should not use a scheduling process which pretends as though there is little for a team to learn along the way.  More importantly, we should not punish or reward  team members for “overpromising”,  “sandbagging”, or “achieving siloed work at an expense to the whole”. Innovative projects are a journey.  Whether you are building an innovative $ billion hospital in San Francisco or creating the next big IoT product, the planning philosophy and methodologies are generally transferable. A planning process with a foundation of trust and collaboration will always lead to better schedule efficiency, better employee engagement, and retention than one based on fear of the unknown.