How to create a plan

If you're new to Business Sorter, or business planning in general, this article explains the simple process of creating a plan and also provides a few helpful tips. 

With business planning, a variety of views usually leads to a better outcome. So it helps to involve all key people from the start, including external advisers, if possible, such as your accountant. The team approach also means you’re more likely to get buy-in, save time, and avoid conflict later on.

To create a new plan, go to your dashboard, scroll down until you see the ‘Create plan’ button and click on it.

Please note: If you start creating a plan and have to stop before you’re finished, the plan will automatically be saved in ‘Drafts’, which you can access by clicking ‘View all’.

Before you start your plan, you’re given the option of carrying out a SWOT analysis of your business, which can help with the planning process.

Please note: On smaller devices, e.g., laptops, you may need to enter fullscreen view to use the SWOT and the sorter. Alternatively, try increasing the size of your browser window.

The SWOT template comes with thought starters to help you think about matters that may help or hinder your business.

To start planning. click on any area to open it. Tips are provided throughout the sorter. Click on the green ‘ℹ︎’ symbols to view tips.

When you open an area, you’ll find a stack of cards in the middle of the page with objectives written on them. Read each objective, decide if it’s something your business needs to work on or not, and then put it in the appropriate pile - ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

Of course, everyone has different levels of expertise and experience so, if you’re doing this as a group, some cards may need thorough discussion.

Please note: When you’ve finished sorting the objective cards for one area, click ‘Next area’. You should only click ‘Prioritise objectives’ if you are certain you don’t want to include any more areas in your plan. You won’t be able add new objective cards from the other areas after you finalise your plan.

Once you’ve selected your objective cards from all the areas, the next step is to narrow them down to seven or less top priorities. The reason for this is to maintain focus. When a business tries to focus on too many things at the same time, it often leads to a feeling of being swamped. Frequently, this results in scattered energy and slower progress.

Have a think about each objective in turn and decide how important it is in relation to the others. Drag the most important ones into the bottom row. Move the cards around as much as you like until you are happy with your final selection.

You can make space on the page by moving the less important cards into the trash.

Now you need to choose the key steps that will help you achieve each of your objectives. The ticks and ellipses above the cards indicate your progress.

When you click on each of your objectives, you’ll find a stack of cards in the middle of the page with key steps written on them. The process is the same as before. Read each key step, decide if it will help you achieve your objective or not, and then put it in the appropriate pile - ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

The next stage is to prioritise your key steps. The process is the same as before although, in this case, you are prioritising key steps for only one objective at a time.

When you’ve selected key steps for all your objectives, you’ll have ticks above all your objective cards.

Please note: Once you click on ‘Finalise plan’ you can’t return to the sorter, so be certain you have selected all the objectives and key steps you want to work on before finalising a plan.

After you click on ‘Finalise plan’, your plan will open with all your selections in it. For details on using a plan, read our article, ‘How to use the plan page’.