TLDR: Effective Planning
I’m one of those people with lists of lists so, unsurprisingly, I’ve read a lot of books, articles, blogs, Reddit posts, etc. about effective planning. Here is what I’ve absorbed so that you don’t have to spend hours down that rabbit hole if you have other things to do or just plain don’t wanna:
A good plan is specific (see below, #s 1 & 2), has a defined schedule (#s 3 & 4), considers financial cost (#5), accounts for peoples’ skills (#6), and has an abort mission strategy (#7). See two examples below.
Example A—Executing a simple plan: “You do all of the laundry plz thx!”
At all points, aim to be flexible, kind, empathetic, open-hearted, and a creative problem solver. Writing the plan down is a magical power-up.
State the thing to be planned … I would like to not do laundry for a while because I feel overwhelmed/tired/pukey and having this taken off my plate would be helpful. Let’s make a plan for you to do the laundry for us until I feel better.
Break it down … “Laundry” = sorting, washing, drying, folding, and putting the laundry away.
When does the plan get done? How much time should be dedicated? … I wash clothes once a week. Linens and other stuff bi-weekly. I do it Sundays but you could do it whenever works for you. But, we could probably stretch clothes to every two weeks and everything else except towels to once a month if you prefer.
When does the plan start and complete? … Can you start next week? I think that in three months or so I’ll feel less overwhelmed/tired/pukey, so let’s talk about me taking the laundry back as my chore in three months.
Associated costs? … none in this example if you all split costs, but if you are asking a friend, family member, or anyone else with whom you do not already split costs, money should be discussed.
Knowledge & skill share … Should we do the first week or two together to ease the transition and so that I can answer any questions that come up?
Contingency plan … If it turns out that this just doesn’t work out, what’s our backup plan? Would you be OK with dropping off and picking up at a laundry service? Let’s Google to see how much that costs.
Example B—Executing an OMFG complex plan: “Let’s do the nursery before the baby comes!”
At all points, aim to be flexible, kind, empathetic, open-hearted, and a creative problem solver. Writing the plan down is a magical power-up. This plan is considered more complex than the one above because some things in step #2 would need their own little mini plans!
State the thing to be planned … Let’s have the nursery ready before the baby comes!
Break it down … Pick a room, empty the room out (trash, donation center, re-home items, store items), decide the furniture layout, do we want to make it a “yes” space?, research/select/sketch a design, paint the walls, get that hole in the window fixed, design/purchase-materials-for/paint the mural wall, pick/buy/hang curtain rods, pick/buy/assemble/install furniture, refinish your grandpa’s rocking chair, pick/buy/hang wall art, pick/buy/install shelving for the closet.
When does the plan get done? How much time should be dedicated? … Let’s work on things in the list above every Saturday (max 3 hours) until the nursery is done.
When does the plan start and complete? … Let’s start the action list this weekend and plan to be completely done in three months.
Associated costs? … Let’s try and have an overall budget of $2500. I’ll make a spreadsheet where we can write down what we’d like to spend on each thing to help us to meet that budget.
Knowledge & skill share … I’ll do the budget stuff because that’s my jam. You do the design stuff because you’re so stylish! Let’s call your brother-in-law to see if he can help with furniture assembly and the closet install - he’s so handy! I love Tabitha’s nursery closet system, so I’ll text her to see where she got that. Maybe your niece can make some nice wall art for her baby cousin? Can you text your sister to ask if she’d be into that? I think we should be able to take care of everything else ourselves.
Contingency plan … I’ve heard that a lot of people don’t get the nursery done before the baby comes. What is the bare minimum that we would want to have ready? Let’s make a list. Are there any other items on our list that we can have someone else do for us or pay someone to do? Let’s make a list.