How to Plan a Timeline

This article comes from a conversation with my 16-year-old. The other day, she had an event that, for weeks, email reminders had gone out, telling everyone to be on time. Because I grew up in the 82nd Airborne, I need to be places ten minutes before the event starts. It is better to be ten minutes early than one minute late. So, we arrived at 1845 (6:45pm) to the event that was scheduled to start at 1900 (7:00pm). The people running the event showed up at 1902 (7:02pm). My daughter was not happy, and she pointed out to me all the emails that had been sent about being on time. Just like I have been programmed to be ten minutes early, my daughter has been surrounded by people that, like me, do backwards planning. I told her that the people running the event were not being rude, they just do not know how to plan.

What is backwards planning? Start with the event’s hit time and work backwards, assigning a time to each thing that has to be done. I will use my daughter’s event and show you our timeline.

Hit time: 1900 (7:00pm), Location: Mechanicsburg, PA. H (Hit time) minus 10 minutes is when we want to arrive in the parking lot. It takes 25 to 30 minutes to travel from my house to the parking lot, so we leave the house at 1820 (6:20pm) (H minus 40 minutes). It takes 30 minutes to eat dinner. Dinner time is 1750 (5:50pm) (H minus 1 hour and 10 minutes). I like to cook. I take 40 minutes to make dinner. I start making dinner at 1710 (5:10pm) (H minus 1 hour 50 minutes). Now, with this backward timeline, I have way points of time to hit to keep me on track. I know that I need to start cooking no later than 1710 (5:10pm).

This is what it looks like:

H minus 1h 50m: Cook Dinner

H minus 1h 10m: Eat Dinner

H minus 40m: Start Movement to parking lot

H minus 10m: Arrive at parking lot

H: Event

H plus 1h 20m: Pick up

This is a simple way to plan out your day, so that you get there on time. By breaking down the timeline into small bits, you have way points that you can hit to keep you on track, just like in land nav. If you just have the one hit time, but you also have tasks and travel that need to be accomplished prior to the hit time, it becomes difficult to stay on target.

With the timeline, you can adjust if you need to. Example: Dinner takes longer to cook. We miss the way point H minus 1 h 10m, so we pick up the speed and eat faster and make the way point H minus 40m. Now, we are on track again.

This is just a simple example of how to plan on getting somewhere on time. We can also use timelines when working with others. Making time way points will help others know what they need to do, and when they need to do it. Right place, right time, right action for the win.

Three Rules:

1. Don’t be late

2. Don’t be lost

3. Don’t be light

- Chris