🧭Where Planning Can Go Wrong Before It Starts

Planning can easily go wrong before it starts.

Often, the issue appears before any numbers are written down.

By the time a spreadsheet is open, several decisions have already been made – quietly and often unintentionally. Those early choices shape what the plan can and cannot do later.

🔍 Planning issues often show up earlier than expected

When business planning doesn’t work as intended, the problem is often attributed to forecasts, budgets, or targets.

In practice, many planning issues trace back to earlier stages:

• how the plan was framed

• which assumptions were carried forward

• whether people were working from the same picture

At this point, no budgeting tools or spreadsheets are involved yet.

🧭 Three early conditions that shape the plan

These aren’t mistakes. They are common conditions in SME planning unless they are made explicit.

Unclear intent

What the plan is meant to achieve isn’t clearly stated or shared.

Teams may agree they are “planning” but not agree on:

• what success looks like

• what matters most this period

• which trade-offs are acceptable

Without clarity here, later decisions pull in different directions.

Carried assumptions

Assumptions about revenue, capacity, timing, or priorities are often inherited from the previous planning cycle.

They may still be valid.
They may not.

The issue isn’t that assumptions exist – it’s that they are rarely reviewed as part of the planning process.

Fragmented inputs

Different contributors often plan against different versions of reality.

Sales, delivery, finance, and leadership may each be using:

• different signals

• different constraints

• different expectations

When inputs aren’t aligned early, inconsistencies appear later in the numbers.

📊 What spreadsheets do at this stage

Spreadsheets are effective business planning tools once the groundwork is in place.

They rely on:

• shared intent

• aligned assumptions

• coherent inputs

When those aren’t present, the spreadsheet doesn’t cause the issue – it reflects it.

🧱 What helps before opening the spreadsheet

Before working with numbers, it helps to pause briefly on the basics:

• Write down what you believe has changed since the last planning cycle

• List the assumptions you are relying on

• Check whether those assumptions are shared

• Clarify what “success” means for this period

This step doesn’t require templates or software.
It requires agreement on the starting point.

🧮 When numbers become useful

Once direction and assumptions are clearer, numbers start to add value.

They help to:

• test feasibility

• compare options

• explore trade-offs

• adjust plans over time

Used at the right moment, spreadsheets support better business planning decisions.

The Bottom Line

Planning quality is shaped earlier than many people expect.

The early stages are quieter than budgeting or forecasting, but they influence everything that follows.

If planning conversations are looping, stalling, or creating friction, it’s often a sign that the starting point needs attention.

If that sounds familiar, get in touch.
A short external conversation can be enough to reset the plan before momentum is lost