Planning and developing programs are crucial to any organization. They aid in defining objectives, determine the best strategy and effectively allocate resources. But defining and managing planning for program development isn’t an easy task. It requires careful consideration of the requirements and expectations of each participants. The right approach can lead to an effective plan for development that maximizes the impact and ensures that everyone is happy with the outcome.
A logic model is a standard tool to guide these efforts. It is a visual representation of how your day-to-day activities are connected to the desired outcomes. It can help you think carefully about how your program should function including the way and time it will effect changes. The model is constructed from left to right, and may contain Arrows to show the time-based sequence of steps.
The first step is to identify all the inputs that are required. The next step is to identify the key activities that require the inputs. Then, you can sketch the expected outputs and, eventually the desired outcomes (both short-term and long-term). Your model should also include the impact these outcomes will have on the audience you are targeting.
Another important aspect of this process is to discover any potential risks or challenges that your program may encounter. Tools like environmental scanning can help identify external and internal factors that could impact the success of your program. Additionally, this stage provides a great opportunity to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your organization–using these findings will help you devise strategies that will help position your team for the future.