Select the best course of action. Develop an alternate plan. Test plans for completeness. Following this sequence will not always assure a good plan, but it will eliminate many problems and pitfalls you would normally encounter in planning. Analyze the Objective First, you must break the objective into components and establish relationships among them. You must answer the questions: What specific operations must I achieve to accomplish the objective, and how are those operations related to each other? Then you must analyze each operation to determine what is needed to perform it. In this way, you form specific tasks. By grouping these tasks, you can determine the specific jobs to be assigned. Evaluate the Situation When you evaluate the situation, try to determine what you need to reach your goal. Use your knowledge and experience to examine available resources, policies, and procedures. Do you have enough manpower, supplies and equipment, space, and time to get the job done? How about your standard operating procedures (SOPs) and policies? You may need to coordinate with other managers and/or staff personnel to get what you need. If some are unable to help you, this will have an impact on your plans. To evaluate, in this case, means you must look at the situation carefully before you begin operations. Consider All Possible Alternatives Now that you know what has to be done and what is available, you are ready to consider how to do it. The objective, available resources, and situation all tend to limit your alternatives. One very effective technique for generating alternatives is “brainstorming.” Gather a group of people (your workers, peers, and other concerned managers are excellent resources), explain the objective, what resources are available, and any existing limitations. Then ask for ideas. You must resist the temptation to arbitrarily prejudge or discard possible courses of action. Often a half-baked scheme will trigger a better idea from another source. Selecting the Best Course of Action After you have met with your people, choose the best course of action to carry out the mission. In making this decision, consider the methods and techniques required by each possible course. Determine which methods are most appropriate and which to avoid. If you choose a widely different course of action from that followed in the past, be prepared to design and develop new techniques as needed. Make sure your action will meet all required deadlines. Also, be certain that your plan fits the assigned objective, is feasible under present circumstances, and will dovetail with the command mission and established policies. You may develop a beautiful plan; but if the manpower requirements for it are out of line with available resources, you will be fighting an uphill battle. Once you have decided on a viable plan, you must design controls for the process. Good controls will allow you to keep in touch with the effectiveness and efficiency of your plan. They will let you identify and correct problems before they reach epic proportions. A good plan must be flexible enough to respond to required adjustments dictated by the control process. Develop an Alternate Plan Once you have developed a gem of a plan, expect it to fail! An alternate plan can save the day if the worst should happen. If conditions should change or resources should suddenly become unavailable, your original plan could well become unworkable. So develop a full-blown alternate plan at the beginning; you may not have enough time later. Test All Plans for Completeness After you have selected the best course of action and an alternate plan, check them both for completeness. Do they answer the six questions what, when, where, how, why, and who? Are they both adequate? Do they comply with current directives? Look at the overall plans and at the details. Another brainstorming session designed to pick holes in the plans might help. THE TIME ELEMENT IN PLANNING Comprehensive planning can be time-consuming. As a result, you will frequently need to go ahead with the several planning steps without having all the facts. Flexibility is the key to planning under these circumstances. You must allow for changes as new information  or  alternatives  occur.  Give  due 4-8