The staff planning process begins with the receipt of an order from the executive.
The general steps taught by the military are called the Military Decision Making Process. They have been translated into a business context here. They are:
Step 1. Receive the order.
Step 2. Analyze the order.
Step 3. Develop courses of action.
Step 4. Analyze courses of action.
Step 5. Compare courses of action.
Step 6. Select and approve a course of action.
Step 7. Write and distribute the orders to reporting units.
In step 1, the staff receives an order from an executive. This could be a letter, email, or phone call.
In step 2, the staff analyzes the order, alerts reporting units that an order is being developed, and starts their movement. The analysis consists of the following tasks:
Task 1. Analyze the order.
Task 2. Gather available context and information about the environment.
Task 3. Determine the specified tasks, the implied tasks, and the essential tasks.
Task 4. Review available assets.
Task 5. Determine constraints.
Task 6. Identify critical facts and assumptions.
Task 7. Identify and assess risks.
Task 8. Determine critical information requirements.
Task 9. Make a plan to gather the required information.
Task 10. Create or update the operational timeline.
Task 11. Write a mission statement (use the S.M.A.R.T. goal method).
Task 12. Brief the executive on the analysis of the order and the proposed mission statement.
Task 13. The executive approves the mission statement.
Task 14. Develop the mission intent (a vision of accomplishing the mission and the way it will be accomplished, and prioritized values to apply to decision-making).
Task 15. Develop the planning guidance for teams to use.
Task 16. Distribute an alert that an order is being developed with the mission, intent, and planning guidance.
In step 3, one or more courses of action are developed. A course of action is one way to achieve the mission or execute the order.
In step 4, each course of action is analyzed for advantages and disadvantages.
In step 5, the courses of action are compared and evaluated.
In step 6, the best course of action is selected and the executive approves it.
In step 7, the final orders are written and distributed to reporting units. These translate the order received from the executive in to more specific and actionable orders that each team can execute, which would in turn meet the executive’s intent.