In December 22, I attended Project Management South Asia Conference organized by PMI. On the 2nd day, there was a ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ: ๐๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฌ๐ข ๐๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฌ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข – ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. Navika Sagar Parikrama was a project wherein a team of women officers of the Indian Navy circumnavigated the globe on an Indian-built sailboat INSV โTariniโ. It was a very proud moment to listen to experiences shared by all those officers.
However, one thing that stuck with me during the discussion was about โ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ปโ. We all know importance of preparation, of course, but I got a different meaning all together. So far, proper planning and then perfect execution is what I am following. But, as I checked more & more references, I realized, Preparation phase is also the most important part, to make any project successful.
We can plan to the last detail, and then start executing as per plan, however, what if team members are new, what if that project is the first of its kind & no one has done before, what if we have missed certain key aspects during the planning which will impact the execution ?
Preparation phase should come between planning & execution. You may call it rehearsal of execution. Look at some examples:
- Some of the members of Tarini mission were not expert swimmers. They can plan the route and start executing, but in difficult situation, swimming skills was the must to survive. They prepared for those events.
- We know the quote โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต.โ You may replace the word “training” by “preparation” here.
- In defense academy of any country, itโs always said โฆ War is 99% preparation and 1% execution.
- Chankayaโs โGame Theoryโ says โ๐๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ”. Again, replace the word “practice” by “prepare”.
- All of us wrote multiple study plans during college days, and then given exam. But what made us successful is how well we prepared.
All these learnings, point out to one thing. โPreparationโ is the key phase, which should fall between planning and execution.
My tribute to Tarini team once again, for making all Indians proud & giving new meaning of word โPreparationโ for me.