The Technological Practice Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010
Planning for Practice
Key Ideas
Effective planning techniques ensure efficient resource management (including the management of materials, time, money and personnel) and as such are critical for informed and responsive technological practice. Planning for practice includes a recording aspect to support resource management, enable reflection on past decision making, and ensure vital documentation is maintained.
A range of planning tools can be used to make sure record keeping does not become arduous or irrelevant to enhancing the quality of the practice undertaken.These planning tools should be selected and/or developed on the basis that they are best suited to the nature of the practice being undertaken, and the communication strengths of the technologist. Record keeping may therefore include oral, graphical, written, and/or electronic modes of documentation as appropriate. Technological practice is enhanced when the documentation of planning strategies best meets the needs of all stakeholders, including the technologist themselves.
Planning tools include such things as: brainstorms, mind-maps, idea banks, reflective journals and/or scrapbooks, plans of action, Gantt charts, flow diagrams, graphical organisers, and structuring/diagramming techniques etc. In order to work most effectively and responsively, specific planning techniques need to be developed as part of technological practice to ensure that all factors key to success are taken into account throughout the developmental work.
Ongoing reflection and evaluation of past and current planning experiences, (both one's own and those of others), can enhance the ability to make informed planning decisions. Planning should take into account the physical and social environment into which the outcome is to be situated, as well the environment in which the technological practice is occurring.
A significant aspect of supporting such planning is the analysis of the impacts and implications (ethical, environmental, political, etc.) of the practice, as well as those that result from the development of the outcome itself. Analysing both historical and contemporary contexts can help identify past planning strengths and weakness and inform future planning decisions.
Effective planning for practice should result in planning that is both flexible and robust. That is, It should be flexible enough to incorporate modifications as based on a critical evaluation of progress to date, and be able to respond to unforeseen eventualities (barriers or new opportunities), and/or changing factors. However, it should be robust enough to provide clear guidance of 'where to next?', ensure resource availability, and allow critical feedback to be gained in time for key decision points. Records should provide enough detail to enable them to be used to justify past decisions, or provide direction for new plans should the practice result in a dead end or should the development be queried by an external evaluator. This is particularly important to ensure ethical and/or legal protocols are followed in as required by social and/or legal conventions.
