The One-Thirds / Two-Thirds Rule

“A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.” - George Patton

As a leader, time is your most precious resource. It stands still for no one. As such, every leader seeks to maximize it. During my time in the Army, I was taught to adhere to the One-Third, Two-Thirds Rule. The rule states that Commanders should use one-third of the time available before mission execution for their planning while allocating the remaining two-thirds to their subordinates for simultaneous preparation. It is a simple, yet incredibly powerful principle with applicability to all teams and organizations. To put it in non-military terms, when assuming a mission or task involving multiple parties, determine the total time available for completion. Leaders (and their staffs) should then allow themselves no more than one-third of the available time to accomplish their planning while allotting the other two-thirds to the people they lead.

For example, if you have six days to complete a project (i.e., your athletics department is hosting an NCAA regional baseball site), allow yourself two days to undertake your areas of responsibility, such as planning, resource allocation, and meetings. This allows the people to whom you’ve given the assignment the remaining four days to commence their own planning and to complete sub-unit tasks. If you have three weeks until the execution of an event (i.e., your football team was selected to play in a bowl game three weeks from today), take no more than one week for planning at your level before providing formal guidance and directives to your team.

Information is knowledge and knowledge is power. Therefore, one of the easiest ways to empower your subordinates is to keep them informed by sharing information with your team as early as possible. Don’t hold this information back until the last moment. If new information comes available or existing directives change, simply pass the changes along to others so they can adapt as necessary.

The Army uses a formal “orders” process to disseminate necessary instructions and information. Their system is comprised of the three types of orders listed below. While a bit more formal than most organizations, there is direct applicability to teams, companies, and organizations of all types and sizes. Review and ask yourself, “What is our mechanism for disseminating similar bits of information?

1. WARNING ORDER: A preliminary notice meant to give a “heads up” to affected individuals within an organization. For the above mentioned bowl game scenario, this may take the form of a formal, written document provided to all sub-units (media relations, marketing, ticketing, sports medicine, etc) that contains all pertinent information and an initial timeline.

• Preliminary Notice — “Heads up”
• Facilitates Time Management
• Provides operational details — What, Who, When
• Outlines key events for mission execution (focus on mission preparation)
• Detail dependent on: a. The information and time available from the issue of the order to mission execution. b. The information subordinate leaders need for proper planning and preparation

2. OPERATIONS ORDER: A detailed plan in a standardized format meant to assist subordinate units with the conduct of a military operation. In other words, this formal document describes the situation the organization faces, its mission, and what supporting activities the unit will conduct in order to achieve their leader’s desired end state.

• Directive issued to subordinate leaders
• Contains Leader’s Intent (Purpose, Key Tasks, Endstate)
• Information to affect execution of an operation
• Always specifies execution time and date
• Focus is on what to do, not how to do it
• Explains why the mission is important

3. FRAGMENTARY ORDER: Used to send timely changes to affected units or individuals within the organization. For example, “Our flight has been delayed until tomorrow morning. The new show time is December 19th at 9:00am. Ensure you are there with all bags packed and ready.”

• Address only the changes — must be specific
• A brief outline of the changes and instructions
• Issue as needed

Just remember, if your plan isn’t perfect, that’s okay…no plan ever is. Eighty percent of the solution ahead of time is better than the perfect solution too late. Do the best you can, pass the information out as you have it, and provide your team with instructions as soon as possible.