No-Nonsense Planning

This effective book emphasizes the importance of timely and practical planning as a tool for making money and never as an end in itself.

This easily readable handbook provides insights into the mentality required for effective, successful business planning through realistic, readily adaptable maxims. In 20 concise, brisk chapters Sloma describes the most powerful principles of dynamic planning with specific planning steps whether starting up a new business, introducing a new product, or "selling" an idea up the chain of command.

Twenty-eight years of hands-on management experience as a Board Member, Chairman, CEO and COO of several companies. Hold a J.D. from DePaul University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is the author of a number of other books on good business practices: No-Nonsense Management, No-Nonsense Planning, How to Measure Managerial Performance and Getting it to the Bottom Line

Part I.	The Twenty Basic Principles of Planning	1
Principle
Principle 1.	Recognized Planning for What It Is---and Is Not	3
Principle 2.	Go for the Jugular!	8
Principle 3.	Knock It Apart---Then Put it Back Together	11
Principle 4.	Always Plan with Events, Never with Processes	13
Principle 5.	Focus on the Increment of Change	15
Principle 6.	Always Plan for Failure	17
Principle 7.	Planning Ensures Execution	20
Principle 8.	Plan Only That to Which the Owners Are Favorably Disposed	22
Principle 9.	Never Plan "Small" Enterprises	24
Principle 10.	Plans are Self-Fulfilling Prophecies	26
Principle 11.	The Smaller the Planned Steps, the Better	28
Principle 12.	Relevant Approximations Are Better than Inconsequential Minute Measurements	30
Principle 13.	Master the Planning Process Modules	32
Principle 14.	Don't Set Objectives That Can't Be Monitored	35
Principle 15.	Planning Gets Time on Your Side	37
Principle 16.	Planning Makes You Effective---which is Better than Merely Efficient	39
Principle 17.	Plans Identify Events, People Make Them Happen	41
Principle 18.	Decide to Plan---Because the Plan Is the Decision	43
Principle 19.	Planning is Not Forecasting	45
Principle 20.	Plan Organization with Competence Quanta	47
Part II.	Planning and Organizational Power	51
Section A.	The Nature of Organizational Power	53
	A Personal Matter	54
	Credibility	56
	Getting approval of the Plan: A Preview	58
	To Persuade or to Convince?	60
	"Up-Power" and "Down-Power"	63
	Plan = Knowledge = Power	67
	Avoiding a "Veto"	69
	The Carrot and the Stick	70
Section B.	The Eight Ways in which Planning Enhances Organizational Power	76
Part III.	How to Plan a Business Start-Up: Just Thirty Nine Steps to Success!	79
Section A.	Planning Procedure Overview	81
Section B.	Detailed Planning Steps	88
Part IV.	How to Plan an Ongoing Business	103
Section A.	Preparing the Plan	105
Section B.	Evaluating the Plan	117
Part V.	How to Plan a New Product	131
Section A.	The Financial Plan	133
Section B.	The Technical Plan	143
Part VI.	How to Sell Your Plan: The Human "PERT Chart"	149
Section A.	The "Approval Chain"	151
Section B.	The Approval/"Hot Button" Table	155
Section C.	The Veto Defense Index Table	159
Section D.	Negotiation (or Navigation)	162
	Index	169