Strategy fails when companies fail to link and align operations, programs and projects to the end state specified in their strategy. Operational Planning is the key to success, and the Operational Planning Team is the company's coordinating and directing team

1. Adapted from Whiskey and Decisions
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Turn Strategy into Actionable Results

2. Michael A. “Lucky” LaChance
I am a "high-intensity" planner and operator who builds bridges across the planning execution gap.
I have 28 years of Operational Planning experience from the smallest units of the
military to some of America’s finest corporations and everything in between.
I hope you enjoy this primer. Feel free to use any of the material in your own efforts. I
have a much more detailed treatment of this material at:
Whiskey and Decisions
I freely volunteer my skills and experience via teleconference to anyone or company
who might be struggling with optimizing their plans.
Cell: 615.509.0749
www.linkedin.com/in/luckylachance/
Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
All rights Reserved:
Distribution and modification is permitted with credit

3. • Most companies that struggle to realize their strategy suffer
from the same patterns:
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Solid strategy
Good People
Well trained experts
Solid technology
AND Most importantly
• POOR OPERATIONAL PLANNING PRACTICES!
• I offer these steps and methods based on years of observation
and
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•
Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
All rights Reserved:
Distribution and modification is permitted with credit
practice in multiple environments and organizations;
practice in peaceful and turbulence times;
practice in winning and losing times;
practice with skilled and unskilled planners;
practice, practice and more practice
• It isn’t difficult but it requires discipline and PRACTICE
• Feel free to use the material as you or your company wishes
and please do me the honor of forwarding this on to your
friends and co-workers.
• If you modify this, which I encourage, I ask that you place your
name on it and make it your own and provide me with the
appropriate referential credit.

4. Operations : A process or series of acts involved in a particular form of work with the intent to
generate profit.
Operational Planning : The process of organizing, aligning, and synchronizing subordinate unit
organizations, programs, projects, actions and people to the strategy with actionable tasks,
purposes and measureable outcomes
Functional Area of Operation : A finite subset of similar operational activities (e.g. Accounting,
Legal, Project Management, IT)
Business Unit: A formally organized group of assigned people with an assigned leader, mission,
and responsibilities to the larger company. most typically aligned with a functional area.
However, business units could (and should) be organized around tasks, projects, programs or
any other necessary means
Task Organization or Task Organized : An “ad hoc” group of personnel organized and
authorized by the company with a designated Leader, assigned to a temporary group such as
Projects or Programs with finite or special missions.
Subordinate Unit : Any organizational unit hierarchically assigned to a parent unit where
Mission : Simply put the Primary Task and Purpose of any organization– formal or ad hoc.
Mission Alignment : The symbiotic relationship and effects of one unit’s or person’s mission to
another's in creating the specified effects for the higher unit to achieve success. Think of a
pyramid or building blocks
Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
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Distribution and modification is permitted with credit
Operational Tempo or Decision Cycle Velocity (measured in days) : The notional speed in
which the organization is able to observe, orient, decide, and act (OODA) to create a desired
outcome. Most companies operate a 365 day strategic OPTEMPO. Operational OPTEMPOs are
typically 90. Agile companies who are ABLE to operate inside the 90 day cycle theoretically
have much greater learning curve and subsequent market advantage over slower companies.

5. 1.
Designate a Cross Functional Operations Planning Team with bidirectional command and control mechanisms
2. Conduct a Mission Analysis
3. Conceptualize Programs, Projects, Services, Products
4. Validate the Task Organization
5. Validate Budgets and Capabilities
6. Decide & Determine Key Performance Indicators
7. Estimate Change Velocity Times and Decisions
8. Issue the Operational Plan(s)
9. Operational Review on a weekly basis
10. Observe, Orient, Decide Act to shore up the desired vision and
mission continuously.
Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
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Distribution and modification is permitted with credit

6. Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
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Distribution and modification is permitted with credit
Purpose The Operational Planning Team identifies, aligns, coordinates,
reduces inefficiencies, and synchronizes inter-departmental activities for
the company, and directs/coordinates and plans subordinate business unit
actions to accomplish the agreed upon missions and projects within their
assigned areas of operation.
COO or Chief of Staff is the Traditional Decision Maker
Core Membership usually made up of:
• Controller (the Budget authority)
• Dir/VP IT (Infrastructure Person)
• Dir/VP of Development (Software Development)
• Director/VP of Product/Service Management (Operations)
• Dir/VP of Acct Mgt (Voice of the Customer)
Full or Extended Membership might include:
• Dir/VP of Project Management (If organized this way)
• Dir/VP of Sales
• Dir/VP Training
• Dir/VP HR
• Others as needed

7. The purpose of the Mission Analysis is to ensure:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Complete OPT understanding of the Strategic Mission,
imperatives and directives
Verify the Operational Environment since Issuance of the
Strategic Plan
Verify the group’s collective understanding of the CEO’s
Vision and Intent
Set the groundwork for Operations Concept Development
Set the foundation for Operational Linkage and Alignment in
Projects, Programs, and Business Unit Actions
Remember – Mission is the Task and Purpose (It
can usually be written into a couple of sentences
with Who, What, When, Where, and Why)
Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
All rights Reserved:
Distribution and modification is permitted with credit

8. Determine the Facts
* Specify Facts that affect “how” you or your business units will necessarily achieve their mission
* Budget and Market Facts
Determine the Assumptions
* Only generate “Necessary” Assumptions to develop options, programs or programs
* Assumptions automatically qualify as a Priority Information Requirement and KPI
Validate Missions and Intent
* Missions of Company and Major Subordinate Units
* Intent for Company and Major Subordinate Units
Determine Limitations
* Resources: People, Money, Equipment etc.
* Organization: Functional, Creative, Skillsets etc.
Validate Centers of Gravity
* Identify the Services, Products, or Market Conditions from which Your Company Gains
and Retains Significant Market Advantage and/or power and wealth
Tasks to Subordinate Units
* Specified in the Strategic Plan or CEO Vision and Guidance
* Implied in the Strategic Plan or CEO Vision and Guidance
Validate Unit Organization
Inputs:
CEO Vision
Strategic Plan
Planning Guidance
Budget (Rough Cut)
1 Nesting is explained on the coming slides
Adapted from: Whiskey and Decisions
* Business Units Organized sufficiently
* Functional, Task, Mission, Headcount, Skills,
Identify Risks to Mission
* For each Risk – Consider Actions/Tasks to Mitigate
* Conditional Risks can be avoided in COA Dev
Envision End States
Validate Mission Nesting1
Back Brief CEO
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* State what success and failure looks like for
Company and each unit in the Strategic plan
* Generate Nesting/Linking Diagram
with Mission, Vision
* Review Analysis
* Guidance and Direction

9. Each unit is linked laterally to achieve the maximum affect possible
Each subordinate unit is assigned a task and purpose that
directly supports the parent unit task and works in
unison with the overall unit goal
One subordinate unit is critical to mission accomplishment
and they are designated the “main effort”
Connecting Link =
“main effort”
Because -It Achieves the higher Mission (Task and Purpose of the Chain)
-- Without the connector we cannot have a chain
All other units are “supporting efforts”
Adapted from: Whiskey and Decisions
All rights Reserved: Distribution and modification is permitted with credit

10. “TechCo XRM will be the operational development and delivery
platform of choice for complex business processes”
Strategy: TechCo Maintains the lowest “cost to market” subscription based relational database (XRM) through continuous SDLC Mgt
Strategic Concept: In order to reduce the technical requirements of small companies, TechCo’s is committed to delivering an organic integration platform by the
end of 2016. In order to accomplish this, TechCo will use the first half of 2014 to make the build, buy or partner decision, and begin the execution in the second
half. Thus we will operate on a 90 day Strategic OPTEMPO.
MAIN Effort
Admin
Sales
Product
Management
Support
Business
Units
Sell 25 M
New Sales
Create New
Integration
Platform on
XRM
Finance
Business
Intel
Acct Svc
Tech Support
Support
Decision
Making
Maintain
Customer
Satisfaction
Unit
Task
Purpose
Provide
Financial
Stability
To Prevent
Business Unit
Distraction
To support the
Development
Budget
Adapted from: Whiskey and Decisions
To Provide our
customers the
greatest possible
synergy of their
enterprise systems
To provide the
Optimal Financial
Resource allocation
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To enable optimal
business Decisions
by Business Units
To Retain
Customers and
Refer new ones

11. Company Decisive Task: Develop Integration Application
Product Management (Company Main Effort) Mission Analysis
Restated Mission: TechCo Product Management (Company Main Effort): Product
Management integrates an Integration engine and Platform into the XRM To
Provide our customers the greatest possible synergy of their enterprise systems
Supporting Tasks and Supporting Units
Task and Purpose : Specified -Build, test and
deploy quality products in order to meet technical
specificationsand business requirements
Software Development
Task and Purpose : Implied – Develop Marketing
strategy and plans for the new integration
platform to drive sales
Sales
Task and Purpose: Specified: ID and analyze
critical benchmarking data sets for analysis in
order to measure the effectiveness of operations.
Finance/BI
Task and Purpose: Implied - Implement, maintain
and support delivery of products and services in
order to retain current customer base.
Task and Purpose : Implied - Establish and
maintain quality metrics and scoring for reporting
inside of the software so as to provide customer
satisfaction through a real time quality assessment
and sat
Task and Purpose : Implied - Identify and validate
Market threats, opportunities, requirements for
consideration by the PMT and the product
managers so as to ensure the right product at the
right price at the right time to the right segment.
Adapted from: Whiskey and Decisions
Integration Engine
Acct Services
QA
Corporate Research
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Product Management
Task and Purpose : (Decisive Task)
Specified Deliver quality Software
Products to the customer in the form of an
integration Platform to improved customer
efficiencies without a large IT
infrastructure or Budget .
Task and Purpose : Implied - Partner with
internal and external stakeholders to
develop business requirements so that
Product Development generates the best
possible software solution to meet those
requirements.
Task and Purpose : Implied - Facilitate
cross functional corporate level decision
making throughout the PDLC process so
that optimal solutions are developed in a
timely manner.
Task and Purpose:
Develop, maintain, and coordinate the
product roadmap executing against the
business case and requirements within
SDLC to ensure the delivery of timely,
high quality products

12. Based on Mission Analysis:
1. Create Programs or Projects aligned to Mission Critical Tasks
2. Generate a rough “nested” scope statement that identifies project
interrelations
3. Assign Business Unit Owner and have the Business Unit assign a
Project / Program Manager
4. Estimate very rough scope, sequence and timelines for each
program or project
5. Determine rough resources
6. Determine Limitations – Think of Alternatives
7. Assess Risks – Consider mitigations
8. Establish Detailed Program/ Project Planning backbrief schedule
9. Back Brief CEO on Program and Project Concepts
10. Gain CEO Approval, Adjust as Directed
Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
All rights Reserved:
Distribution and modification is permitted with credit

13. Program and Projects Concepts
Project 1: Preliminary Establish Research Base
LEAD: Lucky (Research Manager)
Project 2: Decision : Build, Buy, Partner COAs
Tgt Completion time 30 Days
Start immediately
LEAD: Todd (Product Manager)
Project 3: Design Solution
Key Milestones/Deliverables
Tgt Completion time 30 Days
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Start 60 Days
Dependency Project 1
LEAD: Sanjay (Product Development)
Tgt Completion time 700 Days
Key Milestones/Deliverables
Start 90 Days
Dependency Project 2
Customer Feedback on Platform
Collate Features list
Estimate Infrastructure Demand
Estimate Code Requirements
Estimate Code gaps
Estimate skillset gaps
Current Integration Platforms
Current Capabilities Assessment
Current future trends
* Estimate Build COA
* Estimate Partner COAs
* Estimate Buy COAs
* Recommend sequential decisions or
single comprehensive decision
METRICS: Completion IAW Schedule
Budget $25,000
* TBD
Metrics TBD
METRICS COA Progress
Allocated Budget $ 75,000
Start Decision:
COO
1
Key Milestones/Deliverables
2
CEO
Execute
Decision
Window
VP PM
Decision
Window
NLT 1 Feb 2014
Adapted from: Whiskey and Decisions
Allocated Budget $3,800,000
3
NLT 1 Apr 2014
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14. Quickly
Adapted from: Whiskey and Decisions
All rights Reserved: Distribution and modification is permitted with credit

15. Project Mission
Project Task Organization, Roles and Responsibilities
Project Objectives
Scope Sequence
Key Milestones and Decisions
Deliverables
Resources
People
Technology
Budget
Time
Progress Assessment
Shortfalls
Obstacles
Opportunities
Make Decisions as Needed
Direct energy to sure up success
Adapted from:
Whiskey and Decisions
All rights Reserved:
Distribution and modification is permitted with credit

16. Michael A. “Lucky” LaChance
Cell: 615.509.0749
www.linkedin.com/in/luckylachance/