A PlanStreet Lesson from Horse Country:

How to Make It Through the Murky Middle of a Project

PlanStreet is located in the heart of Kentucky horse country, where nearly 20,000 thoroughbred foals (baby horses) were born last year. Just about every owner of each of those newborn horses hopes it will become a Kentucky Derby winner, or, even better, a Triple Crown champion like Secretariat, American Pharoah, and Justify.

Yet, as anyone in the thoroughbred industry will tell you, from the time that newborn horse’s hooves hit the ground to the end of its training, so many things can happen. Especially in the middle of the process. Injury, illness, poor training, loss of an owner’s resources, the departure of key training employees and exercise riders, you name it. The middle is full of peril. It is as much of a rollercoaster for everyone involved as any action movie.

The training team of a Kentucky Derby contender must execute a combination of diligence, consistency, crazy-hard work, excellent management and oversight, among other aspects. Luck sure helps too.

How Project Management Is Like Horse Training

Like training a horse to become a racing champ, when a company or an organization takes on a new project, everything usually starts with a great deal of enthusiasm. The project can finish with a spirit of celebration. But the middle of a project is where problems and significant roadblocks often surface. It is here where things can even fall apart. Challenges may include: key people leaving, new directions dictated by a client, and changing winds in your industry.

Having superior online project management software helps project managers and teams weather what is known as the murky middle. For example, PlanStreet’s project management software provides a clear record of the work accomplished and the work ahead. Should one team member depart who possesses valuable knowledge, a replacement can get quickly up to speed. Should an entire team need to be reshuffled, the platform can easily respond, organizing and reallocating resources.

Clients are often impatient for a finish and highly influenced by competitors’ plans and behavior. The result is that halfway through a project, they may decide to veer off into new directions. Yet they may still insist a project be completed by the agreed-upon date. PlanStreet’s task management software can respond quickly to new demands and a change in course, reducing the danger of long delays and missed deadlines.

PlanStreet’s online project management software can also make visible the need to bring in a consultant when a project meets the murky middle, and it becomes clear that an outsider’s skills are essential. Like a good thoroughbred trainer, the platform provides a clear picture of the resources required to reach the finish line.  

Navigating the Business Life Cycle

The business life cycle of almost every company has four distinct stages: startup, growth, maturity and renewal/rebirth. Without the ability to work efficiently, a business can falter or even fail, especially during those (middle) second and third stages. PlanStreet helps small companies handle growth as they move from the startup phase to becoming more established. As they face increased market competition, PlanStreet enables expansion.

PlanStreet also helps more established companies stay nimble and respond to challenges such as moving into new markets and adding new products and services.

All companies, from small to large, face multiple challenges today posed by a global economy. In every case, maintaining revenue and customers is linked to being efficient. Our project scheduling software is designed to eliminate inefficiency and improve the bottom line.

Meanwhile, if a company can’t go through the fourth phase of the business life cycle: renewal/rebirth, it will hit a fifth phase: decline. Decline is often the result of poor workflow. Companies get established and as a result, become unwieldy. PlanStreet’s task management software can easily assist established companies as they tackle new challenges and horizons. When a company decides it must reinvent itself, PlanStreet is there to handle and facilitate that transformation.

A famous quote about horsemanship says, “Give up, give in, or give it all you’ve got.” We designed PlanStreet to help you “give it all you’ve got” when it comes to making your projects and your company a success.

Written By:

Team Planstreet