The Athens Clarke County Planning Department

Three Questions Guide the Planning Process

While there is no universally accepted method for developing a plan, the planning
process can be described as the response to these three questions:

1) What do you have?
2) What do you want?
3) How will you get it?

There are technical, political, legal, and managerial issues that will vary from one jurisdiction to the next. It is important to remember also that effective planning is actually more of a continuous loop than a single project to write a plan. Once the plan is prepared, the lessons learned as the plan is implemented will result in changes to the plan, still using the framework of the three questions. However, before embarking on the process, there is an essential preliminary step. Before you plan, you should “plan to plan.”