Planning backwards is not a new idea. It is captured in Steven Covey’s idea of, “Begin with the end on mind” and has been practiced in education for many years. It is a method that starts with the final goal and then works backwards to establish what must be done to achieve it.
In the manufacturing process illustrated below painting is the seventh step. The illustration shows the progression from designing to shipping a product and depicts what seems to be a logical progression from one step to the next. This type of
forward planning risks pushing the project forward only to discover that the next step isn’t capable or ready. For example, purchasing can’t source the materials specified in the design, fabrication lacks the required tools, or assembly does not have adequate space to hold in process inventory, etc., etc. These types of problems can be minimized by backward planning.
The primary goal is to ship product the same day that it is painted, it is important that each step prior to painting supports that goal as much as possible. Backward planning can help prevent painting from becoming a bottleneck or it can be used to identify the root-cause when problems occur.
In this example the goal is to: Ship the product the same day it is painted. The following table works backward through the process to identify what must happen in the prior stage.