How to write a good operation plan?

What does a good operations plan look like? As a newcomer, how should I make a good operation plan?

1. What is the operation plan?

If we want to write a good operation plan that satisfies everyone, first we need to know what an operation plan is? What is this used for?

In my opinion, the operation plan is a strategic plan that guides us to achieve our goals. The strategy can be divided into multiple strategic units (specific operation activities and some operation means) to achieve the ultimate goal.

The operation plan is the process of gradually breaking down the goal into its various sub-goals in order to achieve the final goal.

To put it simply, it is the ideas and plans for doing this thing: on the one hand, we need to let the leaders know our ideas and thoughts, whether the strategy is feasible, and whether there are loopholes in the ideas; on the other hand, we ourselves can think twice before acting, so that the subsequent execution can be orderly and based on evidence.

For operations, the operation plan is used to sort out our ideas and guide our practice. We can recall that in fact, we follow the 5W2H idea in doing anything:

• WHY——Why? Why do this? In what context is this being done?
• WHAT——What is it? What is the purpose?
• WHO - Who will take responsibility? Is collaboration with internal and external departments required?
• WHEN – When will it be completed? Nodes for each time period?
• WHERE——Where? Where to do it? Where to start?
• HOW——How to do it? How to improve efficiency? How to implement? What is the method?
• HOW MUCH—How much? What is the goal? To what extent? What is the quantity? What is the quality level? What is the cost output?

2. What elements should a complete operations plan include?

Now that we have a preliminary understanding of the operation plan, let’s talk about what elements a complete operation plan should have? What things are essential?

1. Annual/quarterly/monthly goals, quantify the goals specifically, what level can be achieved each quarter, what level can be achieved each month, and what are the key strategies for each quarter? What is the operating strategy for each month? Of course, the operation plan is a long-term plan made without considering future changes. We must ensure that the general direction remains unchanged and make minor adjustments based on the actual implementation situation each month.
2. What resources are needed? Add the resources you need for the project and ask your boss for resources when appropriate. You have to believe that the resources provided by your boss will give you a greater chance of successful cooperation than if you find them yourself.
3. The specific implementation strategy must have a certain degree of determination to promote the entire plan and a good control over the entire process.

For an operation plan, it is incomplete without a flag. For a boss, the ultimate purpose of writing an operation plan is to understand what methods you want to use to achieve your goals? Are these plans feasible?

A day is too short, just look at years and quarters. What are your annual goals? What are the quarterly goals? What is the focus of the quarter? What is the operating strategy for each quarter? What will be the ultimate level of each quarter?

For a public account that already has 100,000 users, the boss has set a goal of adding 500,000 new users this year. The boss directly decides on the KPI and asks you to write an operation plan. At this point, what should you write?

Although this goal was decided directly by the boss, you are the one who actually completes it. Based on previous operating experience, you will improve your own operating plan step by step. If you find that you cannot ultimately achieve 500,000 new users, you must learn to negotiate with the boss.

Show your boss your completed operation plan. If you can only accomplish 400,000 in new revenue in the end, you must not take on the entire 500,000. The operation plan is the biggest plan made at the current stage. If the plan cannot be completed, don’t even think about becoming a big fat man in the end!

3. Use pyramid thinking to break down the operation plan

Having talked so much about the operation plan, now we come to the most important part: how to use pyramid thinking to break down the operation plan? Make the operation plan specific and quantifiable to each indicator.

Many newcomers fall into a misunderstanding when making operation plans: they just start writing down what needs to be done every month? The boss is not interested in what you do, he is only interested in how you do it and what goals you can achieve? Do you need a budget? So how do we use pyramid thinking to break down operational plans?

First, let’s look at an example: If you were asked to associate the word “apple” with something, what would you think of?

The wrong way of thinking is to directly give the result word that comes to mind, such as thinking of Apple computer, then thinking of eating apples, and then thinking of Apple mobile phone. For example, when writing an operation plan, just write out the work you are currently doing.

The result of this wrong thinking is that your thoughts are confused and the final result is incomplete. This is the key reason why many people often have a confused mind when doing things.

Let's take a look at the correct ideas. We can use pyramid thinking to think about it. The specific ideas are as follows:

The above is a breakdown of the associative thinking associated with the word “apple”.

How to break down ideas and goals during actual operations? The core of pyramid thinking is to put conclusions (goals) first, to control the above (strategies) and the below (methods), to classify and group, and to proceed logically .

To sum it up in one sentence, it is argument by analogy. Among them, conclusion first and overall control are the vertical structural characteristics, while classification and grouping and logical progression are the horizontal structural characteristics. We first need to make a major classification, then list everything we can think of in each category and fill them in. For example: According to the official account’s new user acquisition data last year, the number of new users increased from 0 to 100,000 last year. This year we need to make breakthroughs based on the 100,000 base, and our goal for attracting new users this year is to attract 500,000 new users.

Attracting new customers = attracting new customers through activities + attracting new customers through content + attracting new customers through platform diversion + attracting new customers through mutual promotion + attracting new customers through payment . Attracting new customers through activities can be divided into fission activities, voting activities, lottery activities, accumulation activities and other activities.

In the content attracting part, we can divide it into original content, reprinted content and other aspects. To divert traffic to the platform and attract new users, we can use large-traffic, open platforms with recommendation mechanisms, such as Toutiao, Douyin, WeChat, Zhihu and other platforms.

When it comes to paid new customer acquisition, the budget is involved. Leaders will certainly assess the ROI, which needs to be more specific. In the end, how much budget will be needed to achieve what level?

Each part can be further subdivided into specific parts. What are the key goals for each quarter? To what extent can it be achieved? When writing an operation plan, you should sort out various plans and means to approach the goal step by step in your mind, making this goal seem more feasible.

If there is no specific task plan that is implemented down to the event, time and person in charge, then the plan will always be just a plan. No one will know when it will start, and no one will take the initiative to promote it. Finally, as time goes by, it becomes a regret in the summary of the next year.

The above form is a method that I like to use. I also like to use this form when doing event planning/project management.

If the strategy is not formulated well, it is likely that it will be difficult to achieve the goals in the end. Therefore, writing a good operation plan is not a face-saving project, nor is it a waste of time doing useless things.

4. The difference between operation plan and activity plan

Different from the activity plan, in the operation plan, the "things" among the elements of "people", "things", "finance", "resources" and "time" in the specific implementation strategy are more core. In the operation plan, it is necessary to plan the subsequent operation work from the "matter" level.

We can still break down the ideas for the "things" in the operation plan:

For any operational work, we can divide it into routine operational actions and non-routine operational actions. Routine operations are routine matters that need to be done every day. Non-routine operations refer to innovations based on routine operations in order to achieve goals faster and better.

Therefore, the direction of executing strategies in the operation plan is basically clear, which is divided into two aspects: routine operation work and non-routine operation work (generally innovative work content).

Routine operation work is the establishment of a fixed operation mechanism, that is, the fixed work that operation personnel need to do every day, every week or regularly; non-routine operation work is some irregular innovative work.

How to establish a regular operating mechanism and what fixed and normalized work should be done? What kind of activities or product strategy adjustments can promote the faster achievement of operational goals needs to be combined with the actual operational status of the product.

The decomposition of the ideas mentioned above needs to follow a principle: pyramid thinking, which exhausts each other and does not contain each other.

5. How should the operation plan be presented?

We have talked a lot about how to write an operation plan and how to write it. So how should we present our operation plan to express ourselves the fastest and best?

1) Mind Map

First of all, I would choose a mind map, which makes it clear at a glance what each part contains. It is simple and easy to understand, and saves a lot of leadership time. During the subsequent implementation process, each plan was gradually improved. When you want to write the annual summary report later, you will know what you have done at a glance? What kind of achievements have been made.

2) Gantt chart

Gantt chart is a type of project management, also known as bar chart or bar chart. It uses bar charts to show the internal relationships of projects, schedules, and other time-related system progress over time. Graphical overview, common techniques, easy to understand.

The Gantt chart can effectively use time to show the progress of the plan and what has been completed at each time node.

3) PPT

Although PPT is the most beautiful presentation format, it is also the most time-consuming. So if you don’t have the time or energy, there is nothing wrong with directly using a mind map to write out your own operation plan.

Lei Jun once said, never use strategic laziness to cover up your tactical diligence. If the operation plan is not well written, it will be difficult to make any breakthrough progress later. Doing routine operation work repeatedly and mechanically every day will be very detrimental to your future growth.

Make good strategic deployment first so that you can fight every battle well later.

How do you write an operations plan? Welcome to leave a message below to communicate~

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Author: Operation Wang Diary

Source: Operation Wang Diary