The Natural Planning Model
Five steps your brain already uses to plan -- purpose, vision, brainstorm, organize, next action
The Natural Planning Model describes the five cognitive steps your brain automatically performs whenever it plans anything, from a dinner out to a corporate merger. The five phases are: (1) Defining purpose and principles -- why you're doing this and what boundaries apply; (2) Outcome visioning -- imagining what successful completion looks like; (3) Brainstorming -- generating ideas about how to get from here to there; (4) Organizing -- identifying components, priorities, and sequences from the brainstormed ideas; and (5) Identifying next actions -- deciding what physical activity would start making it happen.
Allen's key insight is that while this is how we naturally think, it is not how we normally plan in organizational settings. The typical 'unnatural' planning model starts in the middle -- someone asks 'who's got a good idea?' -- without first establishing purpose or vision. Or worse, the 'reactive' planning model works backward: action first (get busy!), then organization (draw some boxes), then brainstorming, and finally, only when a consultant is brought in, does anyone ask 'what are we trying to accomplish?' The natural model always reasserts itself eventually; the question is whether you follow it proactively on the front end or reactively after a crisis.
The model is deliberately informal. Allen estimates that 80 percent of projects need only a clear outcome and next action. Another 15 percent might benefit from some external brainstorming (a mind-map or a few notes). Only about 5 percent require the deliberate, thorough application of all five phases. The key diagnostic is simple: if the project is still on your mind, there's more planning required somewhere in the model.
- Your brain already knows how to plan -- the Natural Planning Model simply makes the process conscious and deliberate.
- The most productive planning is often informal 'back-of-the-envelope' thinking, not elaborate formal processes.
- If a project is stuck, the solution is usually to shift thinking up the model (clarify purpose or vision) or down the model (define concrete next actions).
- You won't see how to do it until you see yourself doing it -- vision must precede method.
- If you're waiting to have a good idea before you have any ideas, you won't have many ideas.
- Define purpose and principlesAsk 'why are we doing this?' to establish the purpose that drives the project. Then identify the principles -- the standards and values that define the boundaries of acceptable execution. Purpose provides motivation and direction; principles provide guardrails.Pro tipComplete this sentence to surface your principles: 'I would give others totally free rein to do this as long as they...' The endings reveal your unstated standards.WarningPurpose statements that are too vague ('have a good department') provide no actionable guidance. You must be able to answer 'How will I know when this is off-purpose?' with clarity.
- Envision the outcomeCreate a clear mental picture of what wild success would look, sound, and feel like. View the project from beyond its completion date. Suspend 'yeah, but...' thinking and capture the features, aspects, and qualities you imagine in place.Pro tipStart with 'Wouldn't it be great if...' to bypass your internal critic and activate your brain's Reticular Activating System, which will begin filtering information relevant to your vision.WarningMany people refuse to envision success unless someone first shows them how to achieve it. This is backward -- your mind generates solutions only after it has a clear picture of the desired outcome.
- BrainstormGenerate ideas in a free-form, non-judgmental fashion about how to bridge the gap between current reality and the envisioned outcome. Use mind-mapping, lists, or any technique that captures ideas externally. Follow three rules: don't judge or criticize, go for quantity over quality, and put analysis in the background.Pro tipWrite ideas on separate pieces of paper or Post-its rather than a sequential list. This makes the organizing phase much easier because you can physically rearrange them to see natural groupings.WarningStarting with 'Who's got a good idea?' before completing steps 1 and 2 is the 'unnatural planning model' and will blow creative fuses. Ideas can only be evaluated as 'good' after purpose and vision are established.
- Organize the brainstormed ideasOnce sufficient ideas are captured, notice the natural structure that emerges. Identify the significant components, sort by sequences and priorities, and detail to the required degree. This is the phase that produces project plans, outlines, and structured action frameworks.Pro tipThe key questions are: What are the things that must occur to create the final result? In what order must they occur? What is the most important element to ensure success?
- Identify next actions for all moving partsDetermine the next physical action for every component of the project that can be moved forward right now without waiting for other components. Assign responsibility for each action. If the next step is someone else's, add it to your Waiting For list.Pro tipAsk 'Is there something that anyone could be doing on this right now?' for each component. Multiple fronts of a project can often be advanced simultaneously.WarningIf you can't answer 'what's the next action?' you haven't finished thinking at one of the earlier phases. Go back up the model until the block clears.
You decide to go out to dinner (purpose: socialize, celebrate, satisfy hunger). You immediately picture the scene -- Italian food, sidewalk cafe, certain friends (vision). Your mind starts generating questions: Is it open tonight? What time? Should we change clothes? (brainstorming). You naturally sort these into sequences: first check if the restaurant is open, then call friends, then get dressed (organizing). Finally, you identify the first action: call the restaurant to check hours and make a reservation (next action).
A seminar participant had been telling himself for months that writing a business plan would take ages. During the exercise, Allen walked him through all five phases in just a few minutes: he clarified the purpose of the plan, envisioned what it would contain and accomplish, brainstormed key sections, organized them into a logical structure, and identified his first next action.
A manager who had inherited responsibility for organizing a major annual conference asked Allen how to prevent the crisis all-nighters her team had experienced near the deadline the previous year. She produced an outline of the project's various pieces. Allen asked which pieces could be moved on right now, and they identified half a dozen with immediate next actions.
Allen observed that the most brilliant and creative planner in the world is the human brain -- we naturally plan every time we get dressed, eat lunch, or decide to go to dinner. He contrasted this natural process with the artificial 'planning' most people learned in school, where Mrs. Williams forced fourth-graders to write outlines before reports. Most students responded by writing the report first and creating the outline after the fact. This same pattern persists in business, where goal and objective documents are created after the fact and bear little relationship to operational reality. By codifying the brain's natural sequence, Allen gave people permission to plan the way they actually think rather than the way they were taught to think.