Implementation Month: Bite-Sized Pieces

This January Rural Resurrection is celebrating the fourth annual National Implementation Month! So let the festivities begin! But where do you start? One way of getting started is to break a project down into bite-sized pieces.

One of the most common ways that projects fail is the overall scope of the project. As a comprehensive plan is drafted, dreams of grandeur and lofty expectations are often created. It is like those working on the plan are lovesick fools in the first few months of a new relationship. There’s a unique sparkle in the eyes of the planning committee as they envision a grandiose future for the community.

But that sparkle quickly disappears as reality hits after the plan is adopted and the implementation phase begins. Implementation committee members often look at some of the goals listed within the plan and their eyes glaze over once they see the tasks at hand.

For instance, in my past experiences, a common goal that I’ve seen in the comprehensive plans for many communities is the construction of a new community center. It is often a highly desired amenity in many communities. But the effort to fund and construct a facility of this magnitude is often quite overwhelming for a small town committee of volunteers.

Get Design Out of the Way

Design of a project is key to its survival and it should be your first step, if applicable to the goal you are trying to implement actions towards. As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. The design of a project can help stir interest and vocal support for the project. It can be used to lure funding for the project as well.

But this part a project can be somewhat overwhelming as well. Going back to our community center example, a common rule-of-thumb on design costs for such a facility is roughly 10% of the overall project cost estimate to get plans drawn up to the point where a project can get bid out. With facilities of this type often costing into the millions, the design fees alone can be quite overwhelming.

However, it is important to understand the typical design pathway and how this can make for bite-sized pieces. In general, for a project of this type, the process goes:

1. Schematic Design
2. Final Design
3. Construction Documents

Schematic design is mainly just the conceptual design phase of the project. It can provide a rough rendering of a facility or a layout plan for a park. This phase is typically the cheapest phase as it takes the least amount of time. But it gives you that picture a picture that is worth those thousand words and often gives your community a rough estimate of cost. Of course, this estimate is not spot-on, but it’s a good starting point for locking down funding.

Phase it Out

Once a schematic design and rough cost estimate is complete, your community may be hungry for the next of the bite-sized pieces. But looking at that cost estimate might spoil your hunger for more. But this is where you may be able to break up that project into smaller, more viable pieces.

Phasing is probably the most obvious area where breaking a project up into bite-sized pieces can happen. Parceling up a project and pushing out future phases can increase the feasibility of the first phase. Also, getting that first phase can create a sense of accomplishment and help to propel future phases along.

But be careful with phasing a project out. If donors are content with what was completed in the first phase, they may lose interest in future phases. Also, future phases will most likely be impacted by inflation. Hence, your overall project cost will go up.

Funding

Funding goes hand-in-hand with phasing to create a more palatable project. But fundraising can be its own phase. Many larger projects in small towns cannot be completed just by programming them into the next year’s budget. They’ll likely take not just an alternative funding source, but multiple funding sources.

Fundraising isn’t easy. Honestly, it is often the hardest of all of the phases of project development. That’s why it should be its own phase. But it too can be broken down into multiple pieces. Municipal budgeting, grant writing, and acquiring donations (monetary and in-kind) are all important parts of a successful fundraising campaign, and they all can be considered separate bite-sized pieces.

The successful completion of the fundraising phase should be celebrated too. As I just stated, fundraising is often the hardest part of project development. So celebrate a successful fundraising phase should be celebrated nearly as much as overall project completion.

Bite-Sized Pieces are a Recipe for Success

However you break up a large project, breaking it up into manageable pieces is a recipe for success. So break it up early on in the process and celebrate the successes along the way. Each milestone reached will continue to build momentum for the future overall success of the project.