Creativity and the Planning Process • 203
TRADITIONAL CREATIVITY LIFE CYCLE MODEL
Within the planning process, project managers can apply the ve phases
of the creativity life cycle model. Each phase plays an instrumental role in
clarifying and resolving an issue or problem.
Preparation Phase
e purpose of the preparation phase is to learn as much information as
possible about a topic and to compile any necessary information that will
prove useful in coming up with creative ideas. is phase focuses on all
people, process, and product or service.
For example, a project manager needs to build a work breakdown
structure (WBS), which claries the scope and content of a project and
serves many other purposes. Many dierent ways exist to design the lay-
out of the WBS by applying certain rules and heuristics to determine
TABLE10.5
Planning Process and Groundwork for Team Creativity
Action Example
Allow everyone a sense of
ownership
Holding a team session when building a work breakdown
structure
Allow for open discussion
and tolerate ideas
Conducting a team working session to identify risks and
associated mitigation strategies
Allow the individual and
group to coexist
Allowing individuals to come up with risk mitigation
strategies and then holding a team discussion on which
ones are potentially most eective dealing with risks
Be curious Assigning a subteam or the entire team to investigate
dierent ways to address a specic issue in the Issues
Management Log
Build a collegial and
hierarchical relationship
Conducting an osite for key stakeholders to become
familiar with others’ interests and style when
constructing a schedule
Know the priorities Having the team constantly keep the vision in the
forefront of their minds when building a work
breakdown structure
Seek balance among
creating, planning, and
implementing
Reminding team members during planning sessions to
keep the entire project life cycle and creativity life cycle in
mind
204 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
TABLE10.6
Planning Process and Tools and Techniques
Tool and Technique Example
Anity diagramming Creating an activity listing and then grouping like activities into
specic categories
Analogies, metaphors,
and similes thinking
Comparing an estimating technique to an event or process that
occurs in real life
Brainstorming Taking key stakeholders in a room and listing all the risks that
could occur on a project
Brainwriting Having each person record ideas for dealing with a risk and
passing it on the next person for revision
Checklists Listing all the steps required to build a schedule and checking
o each item as it is completed
Compare and contrast Comparing two dierent planning methodologies and
identifying the similarities and dierences between the two
Crawford slip
technique
Assembling a subteam or an entire team to address an issue
listed in the Issues Management Log by identifying the
problem or issue, generating ideas for dealing with the issue or
problem, and then categorizing them
Delphi technique Seeking to achieve consensus over time and cost estimates for a
set of work packages on an entire project
Devil’s advocate Having someone assigned to challenge planning assumptions
Field trip Visiting other companies to learn dierent approaches for
planning projects of a similar nature
Force eld analysis Evaluating dierent schedule proposals to complete a project by
looking at the forces and counter forces for each one
Hypothetical scenario Determining what potential circumstances, not risks, could arise
and ascertaining their consequences
Idea bulletin board Setting up an easel pad or white board in a control room for
stakeholders to record any ad hoc ideas for making reliable
estimates
Imagineering Visualizing what the perfect control room would look like and
then recording it on paper
Interviewing Holding one-on-one sessions with key stakeholders to identify
risks and ideas for mitigation strategies
Lateral thinking Taking a cross-functional perspective when developing a work
breakdown structure
Matrices Building a responsibility assignment matrix
Mind mapping Recording, on a large sheet of paper or white board, a high-level
approach for planning a project
Modeling Drawing a network diagram
Nominal group
technique
Generating ideas for mitigating a risk, developing criteria for
evaluating them, and then having team members vote on
eachone
Creativity and the Planning Process • 205
its usefulness as a project management deliverable. e project manager
decides to conduct research on dierent designs and how to best dis-
play them. He does so by looking at the work breakdown structures
of otherprojects, interviewing experts on building a work breakdown
structure, conducting a literature review, and meeting with other team
members.
Concentration Phase
e purpose of the concentration phase is to focus on exactly dening a
problem or issue to address. Project managers need to distinguish between
what is and is not relevant, and just as importantly, what is and is not
signicant.
Continuing with the WBS example, the project manager assembles
team members to determine, based upon available information, what
goes into the content of the work breakdown structure. Using the col-
lected information and scope denition, the team starts to clarify the
design and content of the WBS. is phase will likely require revising the
scope to reect unanticipated changes in work or additional information
to complete the WBS.
TABLE10.6 (Continued )
Planning Process and Tools and Techniques
Tool and Technique Example
Osite Conducting an o-premises planning session with team
members
PDCA cycle Resolving an issue in the Issues Management Log
Role playing Assuming the perspective of another stakeholder when
developing a risk mitigation strategy
Storyboarding Taking an issue from the Issues Management Log; identifying
ideas for addressing it; answering questions related to the who,
what, when, where, why, and how for both the issue and
resulting idea; and communicating the results
Synectics Taking an issue from the Issues Management Log and using an
analogy that works with the customer to clearly dene the issue
and develop a solution
Tree diagram Developing a work breakdown structure
Workow analysis Creating a workow for a scheduling a management plan and
identifying areas for improvement in the process (e.g., reducing
the number of approvals)
206 • Creative, Ecient, and Eective Project Management
Incubation Phase
e purpose of the incubation phase is to allow the subconscious part of
the mind to work by suspending judgment and avoiding concentration on
a conscious level.
Continuing with the WBS example, sometimes the approach is not
readily apparent to members of the project team. Disagreements arise over
the design and content. An impasse results and the project manager sug-
gests, and everyone agrees, to work on something else. It is similar to a
cooling-o period following a labor dispute. is allows the subconscious
of individuals to work on the issue. When the team reconvenes during the
next phase, team members can then share the ideas that percolated deep
in their subconscious mind.
Illumination Phase
e purpose of the illumination phase is to allow an idea to rise to the
conscious level of its creator. is phase involves coming up with solutions
to diculties identied earlier.
Continuing with the WBS example, team members assemble to resolve
issues, especially ones that led to an impasse during the concentration
phase. ey employ a series of tools and techniques to allow ideas to arise,
such as brainstorming or a variation (e.g., nominal group technique) to
develop a solution.
Verification and Production Phase
e purpose of the verication and production phase is to test and imple-
ment an idea. It is when thought turns into action.
Continuing with the WBS example, assuming the design and content of the
WBS are acceptable to the team, this phase requires ensuring that other key
stakeholders support its design and content. Having found the WBS accept-
able, the project manager and team members build a WBS for the project.
CONCLUSION
e planning process requires creativity more than any other process,
with the exception of a situation where a showstopper occurs during the
execution process. is process oers more opportunities than any other
Creativity and the Planning Process • 207
process to apply creativity. Unfortunately, too many planning sessions have
people going through the motions to develop project management deliver-
ables. As a result, opportunities to manage a project more eciently and
eectively are lost. It behooves project managers to encourage stakehold-
ers in general, and team members in particular, to allow creativity to ow
in a manner that will improve cost, schedule, and quality performance.
Getting Started Checklist
Question Yes No
1. During this process, determine the challenges and constraints that
could impact the creativity of your project team:
Craving for predictability
Embracing only what is known
Focusing on the past or future, not the present
Groupthink
Having a compliant workforce
Hierarchy
Impatience
Inability to adapt
Insecurity
Lack of sharing
Leaping to judgment
Management’s lack of responsiveness
Methodism
Mismatch
Mores, beliefs, values
Not listen to the inner voice
Overemphasizing a by-the-book philosophy
Poor communications
Poor coordination
Silos
Specialization
Start and stop of ow
Stretching resources too thin
Success
Other(s):
2. Determine the creative abilities that are applicable to this process:
Applying reverse thinking
Being iconoclastic, even nihilistic
Being analytical
Being intuitive
Being precise
(Continued)
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