The planning hierarchy

In one paragraph

Planning stacks: a personal wealth plan at the top, then strategy, then the year, then ninety days, then this week's tasks. Each level sets the one below it.

Wealth creation plan — 5 to 10 years. What the business needs to deliver to you personally. The one almost nobody writes, and the one that decides whether the rest is worth doing.

Strategic plan — 5 to 10 years. Core purpose, values and vision. What business you are actually in, and your brand promise.

Annual plan — 12 months. Twelve-month goals, a high-level budget, a SWOT.

90 day plan — 3 months. Ninety-day goals, who is responsible, and by when.

Ongoing tasks — daily and weekly. Five KPIs, for the business and for individual team members.

Why the top level matters most

The wealth creation plan is what makes the others answerable. Without it there is no way to judge whether a strategy is right, because there is no stated definition of what the business is *for* — see [the three freedoms].

The ninety-day plan is where most execution fails. A year is long enough to defer everything; a quarter is not.

How to actually use it

• Work top-down once, then bottom-up thereafter. Most businesses only ever do the annual plan and wonder why it does not connect to anything.
• If you write only one, write the ninety-day. It is the shortest horizon at which real change is visible.

Where it breaks down

• Five documents is a lot for a small firm and can become an industry in itself. One page per level is plenty.

If you are being examined on it

Good for business-planning questions — shows the link from long-term objectives down to operational targets.

More on planning & goals