How to create an Implementation Plan in 4 easy steps?

Because it directs the execution and monitoring phases of any project, a project management plan is essential to its success. Similarly, an implementation plan lays out the steps necessary to carry out a strategy, tactic, or change within a company or project. Without a plan, your company may find itself implementing major changes with nothing more than an online reference guide and a stressed-out developer trying to make everything work.

So, what exactly is an implementation plan, how do you create one, and how do you successfully execute one? Let’s take a closer look.

When it comes to creating your implementation plan, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution. When evaluating your strategic plan, it’s more of an amalgamation of tasks that comes from a needs assessment. An implementation plan typically includes the following steps:

· Step 1. Research and Discovery

Begin by determining what you’ll need to carry out your implementation strategy:

- What teams must be involved in order to achieve the strategic objectives?

- How long will it take to accomplish the strategic objectives?

- What should be allocated in terms of budget and resources?

You can determine the most important assignments and prioritise them by interviewing stakeholders, key partners, customers, and team members. You should also list all of the goals you want to achieve at this point in order to connect the strategic plan with the implementation plan. In order for your implementation plan to work, everything must be tied back to that strategic plan.

· Step 2. Map Out Assumptions and Risks

This is a continuation of the research and discovery phase, but it’s also critical to highlight assumptions and risks in your implementation strategy. This can include anything that might affect the implementation plan’s execution, such as paid time off or holidays that you didn’t account for in your timeline, budget constraints, personnel loss, market instability, or even tools that need to be repaired before you can start implementing.

· Step 3. Assign Responsibility

Every activity in your implementation plan should have a primary champion who will be in charge of it. This champion will have to delegate in order for tasks to be properly assigned. This means they make sure all systems are up to date, keep track of their teams’ productivity, and so on. This is where project management software comes in handy.

· Step 4. Determine Activities

After that, you must complete all of the minor tasks in order to complete your plan. Begin by posing the following questions to yourself:

- What are the steps or milestones in the strategy?

- What activities are required to complete each step?

- Who should be a part of the plan?

- What are the requirements of the stakeholders?

- What resources should be devoted to this project?

- Is there anything we need to keep track of?

- What are the risks associated with the assumptions we’ve listed?

- Do any of the tasks have any dependencies?

You can consider your implementation plan complete and ready for execution once all activities have been outlined, all resources have been listed, and all stakeholders have given their approval (but no actions have been taken yet).

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