How can you make all your projects happen on time? The key lies in reverse planning. Backward planning effectively guarantees that your events and programs will be completed on schedule. This is simply because, unlike the traditional calendar, it’s the deadline (imposed from the outset) that influences the coordination of the rest. These include determining the tasks to be carried out, defining the time required to complete them, and choosing the project start date. So, not only does backward planning ensure that deadlines are met, it also provides better overall organization.

So how do you apply the backward planning system to project management? Here’s how.

Backward planning: the reverse planning method

As a means of communication, a tool for verifying tasks and a tailor-made monitoring instrument, the schedule is indispensable in project management. While everyone is familiar with the standard calendar, backward planning is less well known.

In concrete terms, it’s a form of reverse planning, in which the steps of the classic schedule are carried out in the opposite direction. In other words, you design your schedule starting from the final date and working backwards, little by little, towards the initial date. Instead of building it from start to finish. Backward planning means setting the project deadline in advance. The main aim is to meet the deadline and follow the plan to the letter. This is why event organizers opt for this type of planning.

However, it’s worth pointing out that even though the layout of this type of planning differs markedly from the conventional calendar, their structure remains the same. Indeed, like conventional planning, backward planning contains a list of tasks, sub-tasks and milestones. In the same way, backward planning provides a visual representation similar to that of the classic Gantt chart.

Why backward planning?

As a reverse planning method, backward planning brings many benefits and advantages to those who use it.

Here’s why you should adopt this strategy when managing your projects.

TOTAL RESPECT FOR DEADLINES
Setting a final delivery date for your project motivates you to see it through. In fact, this deadline activates you to process tasks quickly and efficiently. In the same way, making a backward-plan helps you to overcome procrastination. You act without delay on the scheduled dates to meet deadlines. As a result, not only does it help you become more organized, it also boosts your efficiency. The result is increased productivity.

Of course, in this same context, stress and pressure will come and disturb you. And their presence is only natural, since you’re afraid you won’t get everything done on time. However, good organization will help you to manage them and not let them overwhelm you.

THE BENEFITS OF BACKWARD PLANNING: A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF RESOURCES
With backward planning, unforeseen events and oversights are a thing of the past. It clarifies your ideas in relation to the resources needed to successfully complete the project. On the one hand, it makes it easier to estimate the actual budget, and on the other, it enables you to adapt the number of people required for each task.

It therefore offers a better identification of the financial outlay and human resources your project requires. And when this is the case, the project is sure to be carried out under optimum conditions.

THE BENEFITS OF BACKWARD PLANNING: ADJUSTING DEADLINES
As you’d expect, when you create a backward plan, each activity is carried out within a specific timeframe. By knowing the delivery date of your project, you’ll be able to determine exactly how long it will take to complete a given task. You can therefore extend the completion time for some tasks and shorten it for others, depending on the circumstances.

What’s more, the reverse program design quickly makes you aware of whether or not your project is feasible within the allotted time. After all, you may have overestimated the deadline. Drawing up a backward plan helps you avoid misallocations, and enables you to review certain points in your program with a view to improving them.

All this to say that this reverse planning method is the ideal solution for coordinating your project or event in the best possible way.

START YOUR PROJECT AT THE RIGHT TIME
The principle of reverse planning is based on building the project stages from start to finish. As a result, you’ll soon realize when you need to start your project to meet the deadlines it imposes.

How do you create a backward plan? Here’s the guide

Backward planning is divided into two distinct phases: preparation of the project content, and the actual design of the plan. Like many self-organization tools, it is based on logic and the Gantt chart. All you need to do is follow the steps below to make yours a success.

LIST THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE
First and foremost, you need to list the main tasks and sub-tasks you’ll be carrying out as part of your project. Backward planning means that you must not omit any operation, regardless of its level of importance or obviousness. This way, you won’t forget anything.

This first step is like brainstorming. On a piece of paper or on your computer, you list all the work involved in your project. Once you’ve done this, assign a number or letter to each task to simplify organization. Also, from the outset, you should consider assigning responsibility for each activity.

Let’s take the example of a wedding. In order to draw up a backward-plan for this celebration, you need to define the tasks to be carried out in this context. Here’s what you need to know:

Book the reception hall;
Buy the wedding dress;
Hire a DJ or orchestra;
Make an appointment with a professional beauty consultant;
Select party menus;
Take care of administrative paperwork;
Look at the portfolios of several photographers before choosing;
Compare prices before hiring a service provider; etc.

MAKE A BACKWARD PLANNING: ESTIMATE THE DURATION OF EACH TASK
Without a shadow of a doubt, estimating the deadline for the respective tasks is the most important phase of all. Indeed, meeting project deadlines depends on this phase. Yet, as you know, determining how long it will take to complete a job, especially some of them, proves difficult.

To get you closer to the ideal deadline, propose a duration with a small margin for unforeseen circumstances. This technique avoids overly tight schedules and, at the same time, unnecessary loss of time. It’s the perfect way to create a tailor-made backward plan.

In addition, we recommend that you use two parameters to define task deadlines as precisely as possible.

Firstly, talk to the people around you and learn from their experiences. In the case of weddings, for example, feedback from relatives, friends and colleagues will certainly help.
Secondly, refer to a similar project. This is the best way to find the perfect timing.
Also, do your utmost to become as concise as possible, anticipating all situations. Backward planning also means anticipating all possible scenarios.

How long would it take you to complete an assignment if everything went according to plan?
How much time would you need if the project came to fruition under the worst possible conditions?
What is the most realistic timeframe?

Analyze the answers to these questions and find the happy medium between the three. With this approach, you’ll be able to estimate the right deadline.

ORDER THE TASKS
Have you finished listing the tasks and their respective durations? Now you need to coordinate them to create a backlog. In fact, you won’t complete them all at the same time. Some have to be dealt with before others.

You should also be aware that tasks are interdependent. In other words, you can’t start one activity without completing another.

MAKING A BACKWARD PLAN: DRAWING UP THE PLAN
The three steps you’ve just read about form the first phase in the construction of a backward plan. This fourth and final step is the implementation of the reverse calendar itself.

As explained above, you start by choosing the project delivery date. Once this has been set, the operation will proceed like a countdown. In other words, you position the stage before the deadline, then the one before, and so on until you reach the initial date.

Of course, making a backward plan does impose a few constraints. You may find it difficult to place the first mission or missions. This impossibility indicates an inconsistency with the ideal date for starting the project. In this case, to resolve the problem, you need to :

Review and manage priorities and sub-tasks;
Adapt completion times to reality;
Specify the resources required.

To give you a clear idea of the procedure, let’s take a look at what it’s like to do a backward planning exercise for an exhibition that’s going to take place in three months’ time.

D-day: exhibition day.
D-2 weeks: organize and train the stand team.
D-3 weeks: communicate your participation in the exhibition on social networks.
D-1 month: finalize sales tools.
D-2 months: prepare stand.
D-3 months: reserve stand space.

As you can see, turnaround times can be measured in days, weeks, months or even years, depending on the scale of the project.

Possible formats for a backward plan

There are a number of different formats available for making a backward plan, depending on the complexity of the project and your preferences, among other things. Here, we’ll give you two versions you can use to create your reverse calendar.

The Gantt chart remains the best-known and most widely used format. It’s the ideal tool, as it allows everyone to leave a comment on the progress of the project, and enables a team to work together.
The Excel spreadsheet, on the other hand, is a much more conventional device, but one that is still well-suited to backward planning. Its strength lies in the various options it offers users.
With these two planning tools, and by following the above steps, delays in project delivery will remain minimal, if not non-existent.

It’s up to you…