CES Strategic Planning Committee Meeting November, 2006

1
CES Strategic Planning Committee
MeetingNovember, 2006

• Systems Planning Overview
• Presented by Marma McIntee
• Adapted from ABC ProjectGay Eastman, Mary
  Gruenewald, Dave Hinds

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Definition of Planning

• Creating or modifying any system
• Producing a plan

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Simple Model of a Plan

• Design for the desired end
• Strategy to achieve the desired end

4
Better Model of a Plan

• Purpose
• Desired system
• Strategy for implementing the system
• Means for continuing change improvement

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Purpose

• The mission, aim, need, primary concern, function
  of or results sought from a system. A purpose is
  what the system is to accomplish, with no
  emphasis on how it is to be accomplished.

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The ABC Purpose

• To have a system that ensures that all young
  children have all of the foundational health,
  family and learning experiences they need to
  enter school healthy and ready to succeed.

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Better Model of a Plan

• Purpose
• Desired system
• Strategy for implementing the system
• Means for continuing change improvement

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Definitions of System

• A group of independent but interrelated
  components or elements comprising a unified
  whole.
• From Greek and Latin To combine, set up, place
  together
• A system processes inputs into outputs that
  achieve and satisfy a purpose or purposes through
  the use of human, physical, and information
  resources in a sociological and physical
  environment.

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Strategic Thinking

• Thinking that incorporates some or all of the
  principles of strategic planning, especially the
  identification of strategic issues, the
  formulation of a vision and the development of a
  strategy for achieving the vision.

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Systems Thinking

• Using a systems point of view
• Holistic rather than purely reductionist
• Understanding of components that comprise the
  system, and the linkages, interactions, and
  processes between them
• Incorporating systems axioms and corollaries into
  thinking and acting

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Strategic Planning Systems Planning

• Strategic planning is for organizations
• Systems planning is for systems of all types,
  including projects
• Strategic planning usually focuses on one to four
  strategic issues
• Systems planning produces a comprehensive system
  design
• Systems planning incorporates strategic and
  systems thinking
• A planning process may be based on systems
  planning, and be strategic in nature (ABC
  planning process)

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Ideal Systems
Ultimate Ideal System
Contemplative Ideal System
Feasible Ideal System
Continuing Change Improvement
Recommended System
Improved System
Present System
S u b s y s t e m s
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Ultimate Ideal System

• The perfect system all purposes satisfied
  completely at no cost, with no waste, and zero
  time used per unit (the infinity level).
• Such a system for a necessary function cannot be
  designed and will never be reached.
• The ultimate ideal system represents a limit
  value, and is only a conceptual level.

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Feasible Ideal System

• The best possible or most desirable system,
  without regard to existing limitations.
• Ideal systems capture visionary or even utopian
  challenges.

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Recommended System

• The system, based on a feasible ideal system,
  that will be recommended for implementation.
• Recommended systems incorporate irregularity
  conditions, if appropriate, and attempt to come
  as close as is possible, given available
  resources, to the feasible ideal system.
• Recommended systems are also known as living
  systems.

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Ideal Systems
Ultimate Ideal System
Contemplative Ideal System
Feasible Ideal System
Continuing Change Improvement
Recommended System
Improved System
Present System
S u b-s y s t e m s
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Better Model of a Plan

• Purpose
• Desired system
• Strategy for implementing the system
• Means for continuing change improvement

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Five Purposeful Activities

• Learning
• Research
• Planning Design
• Evaluation
• Operating Supervising

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Purposeful Activities

• Each Purposeful Activity has a unique approach
• Each Purposeful Activity may define a type of
  system
• No Purposeful Activity is better than another
  Purposeful Activity appropriateness of use is
  the issue

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Purposeful ActivitiesPlanning Design

• Creating or modifying any system
• Preparing a plan
• Target or ideal system plans focus on designing
  desired end states
• Implementation or action plans are proposed or
  intended methods of getting from one set of
  circumstances to another. They are often used to
  move from the present situation, towards the
  achievement of one or more objectives or goals.

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Breakthrough Thinking Principles

• The Uniqueness Principle
• The Purposes Principle
• The Solution-After-Next Principle
• The Systems Principle
• The Limited Information Collection Principle
• The People Design Principle
• The Betterment Timeline Principle

Gerald Nadler, Breakthrough Thinking The Seven
Principles of Creative Problem Solving, 1994
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1. The Uniqueness Principle

• Each problem is unique and may require a unique
  solution.

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Multiple Solutions

• A single solution seldom fully achieves the
  overall purpose of a system.
• Usually a combination or package of solutions
  must be sought to completely fulfill the purpose.

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2. The Purposes Principle

• Focusing on and expanding purposes helps strip
  away nonessential aspects of a problem.

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3. The Solution-After-Next Principle

• Having a target solution in the future gives
  direction to near-term solutions and infuses them
  with larger purposes.

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4. The Systems Principle

• Every problem is part of a larger system of
  problems, and solving one problem inevitably
  leads to another.
• Having a clear framework of what elements and
  dimensions comprise a solution ensures its
  workability and implementation.

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5. The Limited Information Collection Principle

• Excessive data gathering may create an expert in
  the problem area, but knowing too much about it
  will probably prevent the discovery of some
  excellent alternatives.
• Planners need to be experts on the solution, and
  not the problem.

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6. The People Design Principle

• Those who will carry out and use the solution
  should be intimately and continuously involved in
  its development.
• In designing for other people, the solution
  should include only the critical details to allow
  some flexibility to those who must apply the
  solution.

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7. The Betterment Timeline Principle

• The only way to preserve the vitality of a
  solution is to build in and then monitor a
  program of continual change.
• A sequence of Breakthrough Thinking solutions
  then becomes a bridge to a better future.

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Better Model of a Plan

• Purpose
• Desired system
• Strategy for implementing the system
• Means for continuing change improvement

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The ABC Purpose

• To have a system that ensures that all young
  children have all of the foundational health,
  family and learning experiences they need to
  enter school healthy and ready to succeed.

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Purpose

• The mission, aim, need, primary concern, function
  of or results sought from a system. A purpose is
  what the system is to accomplish, with no
  emphasis on how it is to be accomplished.

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The ABC Planning Process

• Purpose-based
• A hybrid process
• Research-based parts designed by experts
• What
• Why
• Unique operational parts designed by the
  community
• How
• When
• Where
• Who

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The ABC Project

• Purpose-Driven
• Child-Centered
• Family-Focused
• Community-Based
• Grounded in Research and Community Knowledge and
  Skills

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Ten Step ABC ProjectPlanning Design Strategy

• Select and define the community of interest
• Plan the ABC Project planning system
• Detail and implement the planning system
• Gather and assess basic information
• Explain ABC conceptual model and project basis
• Generate ideal systems
• Develop the recommended ABC Project system
• Obtain approval(s)
• Implement Approved ABC Project system
• Monitor for continuing change improvement

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Three Repeated Steps

• Generate
• Organize
• Select

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Step 6 Generate Ideal Systems (Dec-Jan)

• Review the ABC Project purpose
• Review and discuss regularity conditions
• Generate organize ideas to achieve the overall
  purpose of the ABC Project system
• Identify, describe, and consider several
  alternatives for the ABC Project system
• Establish the two subsystem teams Family
  Resources Team and ECCE Team
• Refine measures of effectiveness for the ABC
  Project system

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Regularity Conditions

• Identify the most expected, most frequently
  occurring and/or most important conditions
• Design the system initially for these regularity
  conditions
• Identify irregularity conditions
• Incorporate irregularities into the system
• If not feasible, try to incorporate them into
  other existing systems or design a separate
  system for them

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Ideal Systems
Ultimate Ideal System
Contemplative Ideal System
Feasible Ideal System
Continuing Change Improvement
Recommended System
Improved System
Present System
S u b-s y s t e m s
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Regularity Conditions

• Why design for regularity conditions?
• Avoid playing the what if game
• Avoid trying to create overly complex, unworkable
  systems
• Preserve effectiveness and efficiency in system
  design
• Give irregular conditions the special attention
  they need

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Purposeful ActivitiesLearning

• The process of acquiring knowledge, skills
  attitudes, or values, through study, experience,
  or teaching, that causes a change of behavior
  that is persistent, measurable, and specified or
  allows an individual to formulate a new mental
  construct or revise a prior mental construct
  (conceptual knowledge such as attitudes or
  values).

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Purposeful ActivitiesResearch

• Basic research (also called fundamental or pure
  research) has as its primary purpose the
  advancement of knowledge and the theoretical
  understanding of the relations among variables.
  It is exploratory and often driven by the
  researchers curiosity, interest or hunch. It is
  conducted without a practical end in mind,
  although it can have unexpected results that
  point to practical applications. The terms
  basic or fundamental research indicate that,
  through theory generation, basic research
  provides the foundation for further, often
  applied research.
• Applied research is done to solve specific,
  practical questions its primary purpose is not
  to gain knowledge for its own sake. It can be
  exploratory but often it is descriptive. It is
  almost always done on the basis of basic
  research.

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Purposeful ActivitiesEvaluation

• The process of examining one or more evaluands.
  It involves not only assessment but also making
  value judgments about merit and worth.
• Examples
• Program evaluation Did the program work did
  it fulfill its purpose and meet its objectives
  and goals? Were expected outcomes achieved? Were
  there any unexpected consequences?
• System process performance evaluation Is a
  system performing according to expectations and
  specifications? What problem areas can be
  identified?
• Uses accountability, testing, continuing change
  improvement, etc.

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Purposeful ActivitiesOperating Supervising

• The process of leading and guiding an
  organization (formal or informal) and its members
  in carrying out the day-to-day functions that
  enable the fulfillment of the organizations
  purpose. Used by, e.g.
• Department head
• Government committee chair
• Non-Profit Organization executive director
• Project director/coordinator
• Small business owner
• Farm manager
• Extension administrator
• Major factor in leadership development and
  organizational development