Leading for Impact:
Project Planning 101
Session 1
Agenda
• Introduction to the LFI Project
• Planning your project
Last updated 7/11/16 by M. Ciccarone
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The next six months are anchored in seven full-day
classroom sessions and one project
Session 1
Strategy
Achieving
Strategic
Clarity
Theory of
Change
Project
Planning
Aligning
the
Organization
Project
Session 2
Peer Group
Intros and
Team Goals
Plan the work
Session 3
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
Project Lead
Workshop
Project Lead
Workshop
Project Lead
Workshop
Aligning
Programs
Improving
Programs &
Operations
Aligning
Funding
Measuring
and
Managing
Performance
Project
Time
Project
Time
Project
Time
Project
Time
Session 7
Project
Review
and
Milestone
Planning
Teach Backs
Leadership
Styles
Effective
Decisionmaking
Building
Future
Leaders
Do analysis and draw out insights
Leading
Change
Do Next
Prepare to implement
Project advising and team coaching calls
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Project roles: We all have roles to play to ensure
successful projects
Your teams
• ED/CEO:
Bridgespan team
• Bridgespan partner/manager:
- Holds team accountable
- Advises ED / CEO
- Contributes to calls, analysis
- Facilitates calls, meetings
• Project Lead:
- Manages project:
‣ Refines hypothesis and workplan
‣ Assigns activity owners
‣ Guides and encourages team
members
- Advises team on project process and
thinking
• Bridgespan consultant:
- Provides day-to-day support to Project
Lead and team
- Facilitates calls, meetings
- Ensures quality and completion of
deliverable
• Team members:
- Participate in team calls
- Own pieces of analysis and content
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While all projects are different, we approach our work
with common processes and tools
Plan the work
• Articulate key
question(s) and
hypotheses
• Create
workplan
• Plan analytics
and
deliverables
Do analysis and draw out insights
• Complete data collection and
analyses
• Develop preliminary insights
potential decision options
• Make decisions based on insights
Prepare to implement
• Create implementation
plan with key
milestones
• Communicate decisions
to stakeholders
• Work as a team to
achieve results
Think through risks and change management approach with key stakeholders
Collaborate in a joint Bridgespan/nonprofit team process
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The goal of our next project meetings to co-create a
workplan by the middle of next month
Plan the work
Month 1
W1
W2
Month 2
W3
W4
1-on-1 check-ins with
CEO/ED and Project
Leads
Project Lead
kick-off calls
W1
W2
Project
workshop
(full team)
Articulate key questions
Begin developing workplan
Refine workplan
Finalize
workplan
Classroom
sessions 1 & 2
Classroom
session 3
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Agenda
• Introduction to the LFI Project
• Planning your project
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Your time is valuable!
8
Starting with hypotheses – rather than all of the data –
will help your team make the most of its time
Bottom Up
Begins with data and analysis
that lead to the answer
Top Down
Begins with a hypothesis about
the answer that focuses analysis
Answer
Hypothesis
Data and analysis
Data and analysis
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Following a top down approach creates a clear path
from hypothesis to needed analysis
1
Identify the key question
2
Develop the
hypothesis
3
Determine
what must
be true
4
Plan analyses to
test assertions
Key question
Hypothesis
1st
assertion
2nd
assertion
3rd
assertion
Analysis to
test assertion
Analysis to
test assertion
Analysis to
test assertion
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Good questions set the stage for focused and testable
hypotheses
Big open-ended questions
What should our new
strategy be?
How can we raise
money this year?
Are we effective at
what we’re doing?
Specific questions about decisions you need to make
Should we launch
fee-for-service adult
education classes,
and if so, what
would a feasible
model look like?
Should we target
alternative sources
of philanthropic
funding, and if so,
which ones would be
the best fit?
Are our current
programs meeting
our impact goals,
and if not, what do
we need to change?
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A strong hypothesis is supported by a set of logical
assertions you would need to believe to prove it
Key question: What question does your team need to
solve?
Hypothesis: What do you think is the decision you
should make?
What are some things you would have to believe in
order for this hypothesis to be true?
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Example: Identifying what you would have to believe to
accept your hypothesis
Question
Should we expand to San Francisco and Los Angeles, and if so, what would a
feasible model look like?
Hypothesis
We should expand our core services to San Francisco and Los Angeles, to
reach more beneficiaries and meet their needs in a financially sustainable
way
Assertion 1
Assertion 2
Assertion 3
Assertion 4
There is a need
among
beneficiaries in
these cities
We can meet
that need
with our services
in ways others
are not / cannot
We can do it
We have – or can
build –the
capabilities
expand and
operate in two
new cities
We have or can
find the funding
to support both
start-up and
ongoing cases
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Example: Mapping analysis to assertions
We should expand to San Francisco and Los Angeles:
We can expand in a financially sustainable way, which will allow our
organization to reach more people
There is a need…
• Research the
issues and
target
beneficiaries in
each city?
• Surveys of
potential
beneficiaries
We can meet that
need where others
cannot…
• Landscape
research
• Interviews to
benchmark
competitor
programs?
We can do it…
• Identify needed
capabilities
through
benchmarks
• Interviews with
staff to assess
capabilities
It’s financially
sustainable…
• Break-even
analysis
• Landscape
research on
new/potential
funders
You may not perform every analysis listed – you will pick and choose the best / most
impactful analyses
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Example: The detailed analysis to test your hypothesis
will inform your workplan
Plan the
work
Jan
Do analysis and draw out insights
Feb
March
April
Communicate
decisions and prepare
to implement
May
June
Articulate key question
Project
scoping
Formulate hypothesis
Make decisions
and communicate
them to
stakeholders
Create workplan
Plan analytical
deliverables
Demand
and impact
analysis
Competitive
Landscape
Desk research on
demand for our
services
Define competitor set,
draft interview guides,
set up interviews
Financials
Project Lead
kick-off calls
Write and
distribute survey,
analyze results
Create
implementation
and change
management
plans
Conduct
interviews
Funder / financial analysis
Project
workshop
Biweekly check-in calls
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Key takeaways
• Your project is about making decisions that will improve
your organization and increase the impact you have towards
your mission
• Hypothesis-driven planning will help you get to the best
solution with efficient use of your time:
- What is the key question?
- What is our hypothesis about the answer to that question?
- What analysis will prove or disprove that hypothesis?
- Given that analysis, who will need to do what by when?
• Bridgespan coaches will support and guide you through the
process, and will return to these concepts many times over the
next few months
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Team discussion
• What is the question or questions your project is focused on? What
is the decision that you have to make?
• What is your emerging hypothesis about the best answer to this
question / the best decision for your organization?
• What “would need to be true” for you to accept this hypothesis as
the right decision? What are your assertions?
• What analysis could you do to test these assertions?
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What is the key question your project will address?
What is your hypothesis today about the answer?
Question:
Hypothesis:
Assertion 1
Assertion 2
Assertion 3
Assertion 4
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Planning your project: What internal and external data
can you analyze to test your critical assertions?
Assertion 1
Assertion 2
Assertion 3
Assertion 4
Data / analysis
to test
Data / analysis
to test
Data / analysis
to test
Data / analysis
to test
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Additional hypothesis tree example
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Example: Identifying what you would have to believe to
accept your hypothesis
Question
How can we improve outcomes for our target clients?
Hypothesis
We should better integrate our service delivery so that target clients receive
more of our services they need and achieve/sustain stronger outcomes
Assertion 1
A significant
number of clients
would like to
access multiple
agency services
Assertion 2
Those clients
who access
multiple agency
services achieve
better outcomes
Assertion 3
We have or could
build the
capabilities and
capacity to
provide greater
access/
integration
Assertion 4
A more
integrated model
would be
as/more
financially
sustainable as
what we do now
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Example: Mapping analysis to assertions
We should better integrate our service delivery so that target clients receive
more of the services they need and achieve/sustain stronger outcomes
There is
demand/need…
• Collect needs
data on current
clients (or
subset)
• Survey current
front-line staff,
beneficiaries
It’s more effective…
• Research best
practices/evide
nce base
• Review data on
current clients
receiving one
vs. multiple
services
We can do it…
• Identify needed
capabilities
through
benchmarks
• Interviews with
staff to assess
capabilities
It’s financially
sustainable…
• Assess funding
for initial
investment +
on-going
service mix
• Assess costs to
integrate
You may not perform every analysis listed – you will pick and choose the best / most
impactful analyses
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