| Top-down planning | Bottom-up planning |
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Top-down planning is a common strategy that is used for project planning. It helps maintain the decision making process at the senior level. Goals and allowances are established at the highest level.
Senior-level managers have to be very specific when laying out expectations because the people following the plan are not involved in the planning process. The benefit of talented employees with prior experience on definite aspects of the project are not utilized based on the assumption that the management can plan and perform a project better without the inputs from these employees. Some think that the top-down planning process is the right way to make a plan, and that the plan development is not important. |
Bottom-up planning is commonly referred to as tactics.
With bottom-up planning, an organization gives its project deeper focus because each organization has a huge number of employees involved, and each employee is an expert in their own area. Team members work side-by-side and contribute during each stage of the process. Plans are developed at the lowest levels, and then passed on to each of the subsequent higher levels. Finally, it then reaches the senior management for approval. |
