What is your annual planning like these days?

IT Strategy & Roadmap Financial Management Enterprise Architecture

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Chief Enterprise Architect in Finance (non-banking), 10,001+ employees

Architecture plays a critical role in our annual planning, particularly as it’s based on Intuit’s capability map, from planning to execution. If you don’t have a capability taxonomy and map work to the capabilities, you will not get funding. You have to be able to outline what you are going to work on and who you will depend on, so dependency mapping is also key.

VP, Chief Security & Compliance Officer in Software, 1,001 - 5,000 employees

Budgets are submitted in October, so by the time we hit Q1, we receive the challenge for the year. Then it's like taking a river and trying to squeeze it into a shoe box. We get into that cycle of right-sizing the submitted ask against the challenge.

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CIO / Managing Partner in Manufacturing, 2 - 10 employees

We have the opposite problem. As opposed to trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot, we have the problem of organizing ourselves to properly do prioritization. The organization began as a small, family-run company and it’s grown from there rapidly, so some of that structure is now needed to decide what the bigger priorities are. But I suppose it's just a different version of the same problem.

CIO in Healthcare and Biotech, 51 - 200 employees

Planning?? What's that?
It often feels like we don't actually do any.
The approach is intended to be proposals and roadmap are built out in the fall, Q3, then approved in Q4 for execution the following fiscal year.
However this model is only applicable for operational changes and most vendors have service upgrades that are built into the short term planning without a clear roadmap.

SVP - Software Engineering in Finance (non-banking), 201 - 500 employees

We plan for the following year around the Sept / Oct timeframe. Then we have quarterly checks throughout the year where we review progress and make adjustments as needed

Secure Facilities Information Technology Manager in Manufacturing, Self-employed

Our approach to annual planning has not changed much since covid. We were never shut down and remained in a positive posture to continue our duties.

VP, Technology Manager in Education, 10,001+ employees

In theory it works like it always has. However, with the move to Agile and a Product Owner model, we are always expecting new priorities to appear. It’s definitely a new challenge from prior roadmap planning techniques.

VP of IT and Platform Strategy and Product Management in Telecommunication, 1,001 - 5,000 employees

The planning part is actually ok. Most work is done in small groups so face to face is not as necessary. The biggest issue is the priority alignment. While we are more civil (can't talk over everyone on Zoom), it is harder to make decisions. Time will tell if this is sustainable or reversion to our old, face-to-face model is required.

VP of IT in Software, 5,001 - 10,000 employees

We do an annual planning towards the end of the year. We iterate on it for our team and share it across other teams at the beginning of the year. We then lock on an annual plan at the beginning of the year. We then review/adjust the plan is the year progresses. This is typically done monthly. The plan helps identity hiring and technology needs.

CIO in Finance (non-banking), 10,001+ employees

Annually 3 months before end of fiscal year and quarterly updates. Highest priorities are cyber, GRC, and talent.

VP, Actuarial Information Technology in Finance (non-banking), 5,001 - 10,000 employees

August is budget and planning time for 2023. Our expectations for overall budget by line are similar for 2022, with slight increases in staff and overall tech spend. This is a bottom up approach, where each line estimates staff and project costs for each quarter in the next year.