WHY SHOULD PLANNING BE LOGICAL?

What is Communication Planning?

Planning is imperative for any type of communication and should always be the logical approach when organizing your information (Eunson 2012). Communication planning is a process that helps achieve the goal of communicating effectively towards your intended audience. (OMAFRA 1995). Communication planning is a step-by-step process that helps clearly and logically summarize what you want to communicate to your audience and is a foundation on which to base decisions and create ideas.

The Logic of Planning for Projects.

In any project, it is imperative that planning is the first activity that is done so you can build in time and resources to carry out the necessary activities in your project (Usability.gov). Project planning is a necessary tool in order to reduce risk and in turn uncertainty in any given project (PMBOK 2008). Having a plan in a project is essential as it defines the scope of the entire project, and allows time to be set for a task to be completed (UTS 2006). It is also essential to plan for projects as it allows to map out project requirements and its project deliverables which include budget, resource, quality and risk planning (PMBOK 2008).

Elements of a Project Plan

Fig.1 Elements of a Project Plan. (PMBOK 2008)

Planning is Logical

Planning is logical in many aspects in life. Planning provides participation, sense of direction and purpose, coordination and control (Weber 2000). Planning can be seen as the most logical direction in our lives as it allows us to control our tasks and ensure we complete them and understand the risks involved. The logicality behind planning is so we can project what we want to do in our future and give us a framework in which we can work behind with. Planning provides us aims, goals and action that can be achieved and a good plan is one that is achievable and maintainable.(Eunson 2012) Without planning, there would be severe detrimental effects such as stress, loss of direction and unwillingness to achieve your task.

References

Eunson, B 2012, "Communicating in the 21st century", John Wiley & Sons, Milton.

Inett, P 1995, "Communication Planning for Organisations", Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Project Management Institute 2008, "A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge - Fourth Edition", Project Management Institute.

Usability.gov, Planning a Project Plan, viewed 5/01/2016, http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/develop-plan.html.

UTS 2006, Project Management, viewed 5/01/2016, http://www.projects.uts.edu.au/stepbystep/planning9.html

Weeber, W 2000, The manager as a Planner and a Strategist, viewed 5/01/2016, http://www.cpp.edu/~wcweber/301/301slide/ch07301/sld011.htm.