Plans, plans and more plans

One thing that amazed me during my internship was how many little (and some not so little) projects the team had on the go at one time. There were also the ongoing communication strategies, for both internal and external parties, the team was responsible for.

Some of the planning aids were informal due to the more routine nature of the item and the fact only one person was ultimately responsible for them. These informal plans, such as the one for the staff newsletter, were sometimes as simple as how the information was stored (filed) on the computer, allowing the person to clearly see what type and quantity of stories they had for each edition.

Other plans were far more detailed such as the social media plan. Although it was a simple document in excel the information contained was far more detailed, including information such as budget, timing of message, content of the planned post and any links or video footage to go with the message.

What I feel is more important to note is the frequency at which these plans were referred to. One worker who assisted multiple communications officers had a spreadsheet she used daily to make sure she stayed on track and could prioritise her work load. She had the various tasks from the different projects she assisted with plotted into her daily/weekly plan so she could mark them off as she went and not miss anything.

I even saw the more experienced staff using plans, although often on certain projects the timeline might need to be changed they still had the tasks that needed to be completed plotted and noted to be commenced when a certain milestone was reached.

I even found that I was frequently referring to the timeline that I had established for my project to ensure that I was staying on track. Not only was I making sure that I was staying on track but that there were no little tasks that I had forgotten to complete.

When creating our communications plans and PR strategies for university I often wandered if establishing the timeline and tasking guides at the end of the reports was something that people adhered to and utilised in the real world or if they had a more relaxed attitude towards it. I can now safely say they are well used or were in the area I did my internship.

It would be interesting to hear if others have found this to be the case within their internship placement. Feel free to comment to let us know what planning tools were utilised in your placement.