Using the Planning Canvas

Brainstorm potential Annual Priorities, map out a 4-quarter flyover plan, and easily convert ideas to goals

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Why Use the Planning Canvas

The purpose of the screen is to help you brainstorm, visualize, and create your execution plan for the year. Create a blueprint for the year and see where you may have resource constraints or time challenges with your top Annual Priorities. Having this visual will help you identify and negotiate those potential obstacles as a team before the year starts.

How to Use the Planning Canvas

1. Go to Team Annual Plan in the Execution Menu
2. Click the Planning Canvas Tab
3. Click the + in the top right to add ideas for Potential Annual Priorities. Once you name your potential Annual Priority, you can also add potential Green Criteria and a potential Owner if you’d like. 
4. Discuss and agree on the top 3-5 ideas in the list. Drag and drop to reorder the items.
5. Use the arrow to expand each potential Annual Priority. You will see a placeholder for one potential Quarter Priority in each quarter of the year. Click the More Actions button  on each potential Quarter Priority to edit it. Remember: You should be mapping out the potential Quarter Priorities you'll need to do to achieve the Annual Priorities successfully. 
6. Use the + to add more potential Quarter Priorities for each Annual Priority
7. Identify time constraints and quarters that are overloaded with too much work using the counts at the top of the screen. Drag and drop potential Quarter Priorities to move them to a different quarter.
8. Agree on the top 3-5 Annual Priorities and use the More Actions button to convert them to Annual Priorities. Be sure to fill in the Red-Yellow-Green criteria, owner, and start and end dates together so you will be aligned. You can check the box to add the new Team Annual Priority to the Annual Plan Dashboard. You can link the Annual Priorities to Winning Moves they support using the "Save and Link Parent" button.
9. You can also convert any potential Quarter Priorities to goals by clicking the More Actions button   and choosing "Convert to Goal." You can easily Create a Task from here as well.
10. You can click on the cards for the Potential Priorities to see the Linked Execution Goals associated with them if you create goals from here. You can click on those goals to work on the details.