A Quick, Clean & Useful Planning Tool

One of my favorite parts of year-end is planning projects for the year ahead. This process sparks a wealth of ideas and initiatives, fueling innovation and providing ownership as the team helps map strategic change over the next 12-months.

What makes these sessions richer, is when a large cross-section of staff can participate from different areas of the organization. This brings fresh perspectives that can inspire creative solutions. However, with all this collaborative energy, it can be challenging to refine these ideas into realistic, impactful projects that provide value to our customers or improve internal systems—all while staying within an operational budget.

Without a structured approach, brainstorming sessions can produce lengthy lists of "blue-sky" ideas. While inspiring, these ideas tend to dominate discussions despite requiring extensive planning and additional resources.

Alternatively, for mid-level management teams, the focus is often to create a practical list of projects that balance value and feasibility. But don't let a smaller scope fool you, these simpler initiatives with minimal costs can have significant day-to-day impact.

A great tool for this purpose is the Impact vs. Effort analysis. This method encourages the evaluation of ideas based on their potential impact and the effort (resources) required for implementation. The aim is to quickly prioritize projects for further exploration. For example, see the Impact vs Effort chart below.

Here, ideas are represented by blue dots placed between the X and Y axis. The dots in the green square will have a high impact and low effort (resources) relative to the others. These should be the top priority for additional planning. In the orange square, the ideas are high effort and low impact compared to the others. These should be last on the list.

The beauty of this tool is it's flexibility. It’s simple, quick and engaging. It encourages momentum and creativity. The exercise can be done digitally, or on a white board with post-it notes. Plus it is simple scale to suit any group size.

By incorporating Impact vs. Effort analysis into your planning, it helps teams focus on projects with the greatest potential for success, setting the stage for a productive and impactful year ahead.