What's Best Next

  • Newsletter
  • Our Mission
  • Contact
  • Resources
    • Productivity
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Web Strategy
    • Book Extras
  • Consulting & Training
  • Store
    • Online Store
    • Cart
    • My Account
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Our Core Values
    • Our Approach to Productivity
    • Our Team
    • Contact
You are here: Home / 2 - Professional Skills / b Hard Skills / Project Management / Using Iterative Scheduling to Navigate Complex Projects

Using Iterative Scheduling to Navigate Complex Projects

October 9, 2013 by Matt Perman

In traditional project plans, you scope out the major pieces of work in detail and then carry them out in a very well defined, predetermined sequence.

Sounds great. But the problem is that this only works well in stable environments. In unstable, ambiguous environments of volatile change, these predetermined schedules continually get thrown off — resulting in frustration.

What’s the solution? Iterative scheduling. Iterative scheduling is based on the recognition that in complex environments, the information you need in order to make detailed plans for tasks beyond the immediate future is simply not available. The result is that, if you do make those plans, they will often be inaccurate. The only tasks for which detailed plans can be made are those tasks that are right before you in the near future.

Hence, iterative scheduling proceeds by planning in smaller buckets of work. You have a clear vision and goal towards which you are working, but you do not create detailed plans for the upcoming tasks further out in the future until the current tasks before you are completed. Only then will you have the knowledge you need to do that detailed planning, not only because the environment will be different once you get to that point, but also because completing those buckets of work itself changes things. 

Detailed planning is great. But when you are in an ambiguous environment and find yourself unable to create those detailed plans, take heart that the problem is not with you. Rather, you just need to adapt your planning method to your circumstances. Keep the large goal before you, and then proceed in smaller buckets of work by planning in detail the tasks that are right before you, but resisting the temptation to get too detailed about the tasks beyond that until you finish those items that are right before you.

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • LinkedIn
  • Evernote

Filed Under: Project Management

Feedback to the Editor

About

What’s Best Next exists to help you achieve greater impact with your time and energy — and in a gospel-centered way.

We help you do work that changes the world. We believe this is possible when you reflect the gospel in your work. So here you’ll find resources and training to help you lead, create, and get things done. To do work that matters, and do it better — for the glory of God and flourishing of society.

We call it gospel-driven productivity, and it’s the path to finding the deepest possible meaning in your work and the path to greatest effectiveness.

Learn More

About Matt Perman

Matt Perman started What’s Best Next in 2008 as a blog on God-centered productivity. It has now become an organization dedicated to helping you do work that matters.

Matt is the author of What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done and a frequent speaker on leadership and productivity from a gospel-driven perspective. He has led the website teams at Desiring God and Made to Flourish, and is now director of career development at The King’s College NYC. He lives in Manhattan.

Learn more about Matt

Newsletter

Subscribe for exclusive updates, productivity tips, and free resources right in your inbox.

The Book


Get What’s Best Next
Browse the Free Toolkit
See the Reviews and Interviews

The Video Study and Online Course


Get the video study as a DVD from Amazon or take the online course through Zondervan.

The Study Guide


Get the Study Guide.

Other Books

Webinars

Follow

Follow What's Best next on Twitter or Facebook
Follow Matt on Twitter or Facebook

Foundational Posts

3 Questions on Productivity
How to Get Your Email Inbox to Zero Every Day
Productivity is Really About Good Works
Management in Light of the Supremacy of God
The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards in Categories
Business: A Sequel to the Parable of the Good Samaritan
How Do You Love Your Neighbor at Work?

Recent Posts

  • How to Learn Anything…Fast
  • Job Searching During the Coronavirus Economy
  • Ministry Roundtable Discussion on the Pandemic with Challies, Heerema, Cosper, Thacker, and Schumacher
  • Is Calling Some Jobs Essential a Helpful Way of Speaking?
  • An Interview on Coronavirus and Productivity

Sponsors

Useful Group

Posts by Date

Posts by Topic

Search Whatsbestnext.com

Copyright © 2025 - What's Best Next. All Rights Reserved. Contact Us.