When you are about to start a project, organise an event or launch a new product, good planning is vital. Good planning is the basis of all good projects. Planning, like many important processes, looks simple. But it isn’t. The evidence to prove that is all around us in the projects that for one reason or another have failed. There are just as many good projects, however, and many superb examples of first-class planning.

The point of this publication is to raise the profile of planning and put it in its rightful place at the forefront of project management. Each generation has its leading planners and success stories. It is right that each generation of planners revisits the ideas underpinning planning to see if there is something new, or something worth restating.

The publication of this APM SIG Guide heralds the rebirth of the APM Planning SIG. We hope its light will burn brightly and encourage those of us who are already planners, those who aspire to be good planners and those of us who work with planners.