Plan, Do, Check, Act. Repeat. 4 Steps to Keep Your Projects Agile.

Everything Skye Thompson knows about the plan-do-check-act framework (PDCA) comes from his wife’s uncle, Greg Howell.

Howell was a military veteran who served in Vietnam for the U.S. Navy as a civil engineer, Thompson said. His job was to work with his team to build a bridge or runway in enemy territory. With limited room for error and few resources, they relied on the PDCA framework to execute their projects.

Howell went on to become a thought leader in PDCA, Thompson said.

Today, Thompson oversees Human Interest’s projects as its senior program manager and relies heavily on the continuous cycle of PDCA to manage those projects.

While the stakes aren’t as high in the startup world as they were for Howell, it can still be paralyzing to take the first step in a project, Thompson said. The PDCA framework makes it easier to fail and learn from your mistakes.

Here’s how to pull it off at your own company.

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