A Whole-Brain Approach to Project Planning

In today’s fiercely competitive environment, project teams are facing increasing pressure to achieve project performance goals while at the same time completing their projects on time and on schedule. Typically project managers and project team members rely on the “left” side or the analytical part of the brain to address the challenges. Indeed, if you are a business or engineering student, the vast majority of techniques that you have been exposed to in your studies relies on the logical and analytical left side of your brain. On the other hand, art students and design students tend to be exposed to techniques that rely more on imagination and images which utilize the creative “right” side of the brain. Importantly, many activities associated with project management can be greatly facili­tated through the use of a more balanced whole-brain approach (Brown and Hyer, 2002).

One whole-brain approach that is particularly applicable to project management in general, and project planning in particular, is mind mapping. Mind mapping is essentially a visual approach that closely mirrors how the human brain records and stores informa­tion. In addition to its visual nature, another key advantage associated with mind map­ping is that it helps tap the creative potential of the entire project team, which, in turn, helps increase both the quantity and quality of ideas generated. Because project team members tend to find mind mapping entertaining, it also helps generate enthusiasm, helps get buy-in from team members, and often gets quieter team members more involved in the planning process.

To illustrate the creation of a mind map, consider a project launched at a graduate business school to improve its part-time evening MBA program for working professionals. The mind mapping exercise is initiated by taping a large sheet of paper (e.g., 6 ft x 3 ft) on a wall. (One good source of such paper is a roll of butcher’s wrapping paper. Several sheets can be taped together to create a larger area if needed.) It is recommended that the paper be oriented in landscape mode to help stimulate the team’s creativity as people are used to working in portrait mode. In addition, team members should stand during the mind mapping exercise.

The process begins by writing the project goal in the center of the page. As is illus­trated in Figure 3-6, the part-time MBA project team defined the goal for the project as generating ideas for breakthrough performance in the part-time MBA program. In par­ticular, notice the inspirational language used in defining the project goal which helps further motivate team members and stimulate their creativity.

Once the project goal is defined, team members can brainstorm to identify the major tasks that must be done to accomplish this goal. In developing the mind map for the project, the MBA team initially identified four major tasks: (1) define the role of working professional programs (WPPs), (2) generate ideas for improving current programs, (3) generate ideas for diversification, and (4) evaluate the ideas generated. As illustrated in Figure 3-7, these major tasks branch off from the project goal.

Developing the mind map proceeds in this fashion whereby components in the mind map are continuously broken down into more detailed tasks. For example, Figure 3-8 illustrates how the define role of the WPPs task was broken down into more detailed tasks. Figure 3-9 provides the final map for the MBA project.

A couple of comments regarding the process of mind mapping are in order. First, color, word size, word shape, and pictures should all be used to add emphasis. In fact, team members should be encouraged to use pictures and images in the mind map over using words. The brain processes and responds to symbols and pictures differently than it does to words. When using words, key words as opposed to full sentences should be used. Also, it should be noted that it is OK to be messy when developing the original mind map. Indeed, one should not expect the original mind map to resemble something as polished as the mind map shown in Figure 3-9. Rather, the mind map will typically need to go through several iterations of polishing and refining. It should also be noted that the pol­ishing and refining can be greatly facilitated with the use of a computer graphics program.

In addition, multiple team members can and should contribute to the mind map simultaneously. In fact, one team member should be formally designated as the facilitator to ensure that all team members are contributing, to keep team members focused on the project, and to ensure that team members are focusing on project tasks—not goals. Finally, at the most detailed level, tasks should be expressed using a noun and a verb (e.g., develop measures, generate ideas, define output).

Unfortunately, it is all too common for projects to go over budget and/or be completed late. In many cases insufficient upfront planning is the major culprit. With inadequate upfront planning, important tasks are overlooked, which in turn results in underestimat­ing the project budget and duration. Mind mapping is a fast and effective tool that can greatly facilitate project planning and help minimize problems that result from inade­quate upfront planning.

A polished and refined mind map facilitates a number of other project-related activi­ties. For example, the mind map can be easily converted into the traditional WBS. Furthermore, the mind map can be used to facilitate risk analysis, setting project team meeting agendas, allocating resources to project activities, and developing the project schedule (see Brown and Hyer, 2002, for additional details on the use of mind mapping for project management).

Source: Meredith Jack R., Mantel Jr. Samuel J., Shafer Scott M., Sutton Margaret M. (2017), Project Management in Practice, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3th Edition.