You may not know it, but 5W2H is a very useful tool for creating efficient action plans for your company and your projects.
In the current digital era, in which companies are challenged to act with agility and assertiveness to solve problems and innovate, thinking outside the box is essential.
Thus, we can see the importance of strategic mint database planning and defining goals for the growth of your business, to help you find the right path to success.
Learn more at: How to set goals for my business to be successful!
However, even with a strategic plan in hand, a common situation among entrepreneurs is the difficulty in putting goals into practice. Therefore, management tools become great allies in this objective, optimizing time and money.
But what is 5W2H?
5W2H is a management tool widely used in business administration to determine a sequence of actions and those responsible in pursuit of a specific goal or objective.
Thus, a simple sequence of 7 steps, or questions, defined by 5 W questions and 2 H questions, originally in the English language, is carried out.
The questions asked in 5W2H are:
What – What will be done? (steps)
Why – Why will it be done? (justification)
Where – Where will it be done? (location)
When – When will it be done? (time)
Who – By whom will it be done? (responsibility)
How – How will it be done? (method)
How much – How much will it cost to do? (cost)
Where and when to use 5W2H?
Although, as previously mentioned, the tool is widely used in companies, it can be used in a variety of situations, including those that do not concern business.
In companies, it can be useful from the creation of products to sustainable issues , such as reducing water or energy consumption, for example.
In other areas, it can be used to carry out personal projects, such as a dream trip. After all, it helps to improve the planning of any activity as well as problem-solving.
It is a tool that provides a lot of autonomy, as you can use it however you want. It can be applied either manually or with the help of technology. Questions can also be answered in topic format or organized in a table, such as the famous 5W2H matrix, which we will present below.
How to answer each of the questions correctly?
Initially, before using 5W2H in your company, it is ideal to identify a problem or project that you want to achieve.
From this problem, finally understand how each of these letters can help you solve it if answered in the ideal way.
1. What
The first question – and the one that will guide all your planning – is: what will be done?
From there, you will identify and detail the problem or project in detail and what needs to be done to solve it. Therefore, the answer is the goal you are aiming for.
2. Why
Why will this be done?
It is important to state the reasons that justify the chosen goal and the activities that will subsequently be carried out to achieve it.
3. Where
Where will it be done? That is, where is the problem that will be solved?
The third question and step of the 5W2H action plan, although it seems obvious and for many it would be defined as the entire company, is necessary to detail where the problem really lies, focusing the attention of the action plans on it.
4. When
When will it be done? That is the question to be asked at this point.
It is very important to define the date for executing the action, considering that all planning has a deadline and to meet this deadline, the proposed tasks must be carried out on time.
That is, it is interesting to know when each action should occur and how long it will last. If you prefer, you can also create a schedule of actions to better organize your processes.
5. Who
Who will do it?
Before answering this question, it is essential to be clear about who is involved in the problem. This way, it will be easier to define who will be responsible for helping you solve it.
Because if you choose the wrong people, all other definitions may be compromised, such as the deadline and costs you want to achieve your objective, which may result in higher values than necessary and expected.
6. How
How will it be done?
Just as in the first question of your 5W2H action plan you defined what will be done, the time has come to detail the form – or path – that will be followed to achieve your objective.
Therefore, this is the time to be as specific as possible, thinking about the process that needs to be followed to reach the goal. It is necessary to be very detailed at this point, as it is not possible to put a strategy into action without imagining the details to achieve it.
This way, establish an action plan for each necessary action, making the goal more achievable and clear.
7. How much
The last question – but no less important than the previous ones – is: how much will you spend?
To answer this question, it is necessary to take into account all the steps taken in the action plan, considering all the expenses found in each of them.
Learn more about how to organize your company's finances!
Consider all possible expenses: spending on people, processes, campaigns, among others. Only then will it be possible to analyze and understand whether or not it fits your company's financial reality.
However, if this amount is higher than the available budget, you will see the need to make some changes to your action plan, such as changes in actions and deadlines to reduce the total cost of the project.
The important thing in this last stage is to understand all your costs so as not to be surprised during the execution of your project.
The 5W2H matrix
As previously mentioned, the tool can be used in several ways. However, the most common is the 5W2H matrix, exemplified below.
In it, we can see that the first column is reserved for the 7 questions to be asked, while the other blank columns are the spaces for the projects or problems to be solved.
So, for each column, only one project should be detailed, in order to make the method efficient as it should be.
