The Benefits of Circular Planning

Complicated tools are not necessarily the most effective tools. There’s a case to be made for simplicity and clarity. That is particularly true when it comes to planning and scheduling tools. Many of our modern planning tools and apps simply get too far into the weeds. Unnecessary details and features can convolute and confuse the person who is only looking to simplify their projects.

Admittedly, for some people or some projects, you can never have too many details. We understand that and there are number of great tools that will accommodate those situations. However, for a majority of events in our everyday jobs and life, adding extra details and features just increase the complexity of the planning procedure. Rather than multiplying the complexity, Plandisc seeks to break up large, multi-faceted plans into smaller and simpler units – and do so in a way that is easy to see and understand.

To the contrary, the simple Plandisc tool makes it easy to create plans that offer both a 30,000-foot overview as well as drilling down on specific details. Plandisc planning tool integrates several circle templates that allow splitting up of the large plans into smaller factions. These smaller parts of the plan can then be worked upon individually. And when you can see how everything works together, a complicated process becomes much easier to execute.

Because a Plandisc adds detail within the master ring, you can see, compare and contrast a nearly unlimited number of planning details. For example, in a school system, you can see multiple departments testing and holiday schedules. In a marketing plan, you can view a years’ worth of TV, magazine and social media posts on one page. Event planners can see and coordinate various tasks – catering, venue planning and invitation schedules.

Using a traditional calendar, a spread sheet or other planning tools just doesn’t allow you to see all of these different elements in one view or on one page.

It’s not that details aren’t important – Plandisc allows for users to include several layers of detail including timing, responsibilities, and dependencies – but the first and foremost goal when it comes to being organized is to understand the overall scope or “big picture” of the project. This is what managers often call the 30,000-foot view in reference to the way one can see the entire landscape of a particular area from a plane.  Tools that burden the user with extraneous information in your plans can lead to people getting “lost in the weeds” and can create inactivity or “analysis paralysis.”.

Another benefit unique to circular planning tools is that the allow you to view how all the smaller rings are functioning interacting and overlapping with each other adjust your and multi-tiered plans accordingly. For example, let assume you are for managing staffing at a restaurant  You can put kitchen, front- of-the-house and bar staff schedules one individual rings and ensure that you coverage for your busies nights (no more 3 people on vacation at once.) Or, let’s say you’re in charge of scheduling games for the City Soccer league. You can make at each field/venue a separate ring and then schedule by date and ensure that there is not double booking.

So, hopefully we’ve convinced you that you should start your planning process by going in a circle. But the real magic happens when you try it for yourself. Sign up now for your free trial and you’ll get access to 12 free real world template that can help you get started.