How to Get a Plan Approved at Work: A Four-Week Method
The 30-Day Roadmap Kit from Davidson Consulting + Coaching is a guided tool that takes you from "we need a plan" to a written roadmap your sponsor can say yes to, in four weeks: listen, assess, prioritize, build the ask. It's for the moment someone hands you a change (AI, a new system, a reorganization, a new way of working) and says, "Come back with a plan."
What it is
One interactive file with fourteen short steps. You open it in your web browser, answer one question at a time, and your answers save as you type. Every step opens with three plain lines: what this is, why it matters, and what you get. The last step is your finished roadmap, built from everything you wrote.
You also get a printable PDF with every step on paper and a templates spreadsheet for a team filling things in together. Each step also carries a finished example from one invented company, so you can see what good looks like.
Why I made it
The steps, the questions and the scoring come from my 20+ years of experience. The idea underneath is simple: ask the people who do the work first, so the plan fits real life. Then turn what you heard into something a budget holder can say yes to. I built the method, and Claude helped me build the tool.
What makes it different
This is the method I use, step by step.
It starts by listening. Week one is interviews with the people the change touches, from the top of the organization to the front line, with at least one likely skeptic on the list. The skeptic gives you your first tough question for free.
The interview tools do the heavy lifting. Your questions are drafted from your first answers, and each question gets its own answer box for each person. Record and upload or paste a transcript, and it sorts under your questions. Anything that doesn't match waits in Unsorted notes. You can import your interview list and remove names before you share anything.
A consent opening, word for word. In the interview step you get "Open Every Interview with This," a short script to read before your first question. It says you'll quote what people said, but not attached to a name, and asks if you can record. If someone would rather you didn't, you take notes. The kit also reminds you to set a date to delete recordings and tell people you did.
Each week hands the next one what it needs. Each step shows what it received from the step before and where its content comes from: you type it, you upload it, or it's drafted from your earlier answers.
A small ask is the easiest yes. The plan is built in stages, and the money is released one stage at a time.
What's inside
Week 1, Listen. Name It First (seven short questions: the project name, the goal, the problem as you see it today, the sponsor, the owner and your decision date, which dates your whole calendar). Then Plan the Interviews, Your Questions, and a place to keep what you heard. You finish the week with a one-page state of things and a table of who is likely to adopt and who may push back.
Week 2, Assess. Fifteen yes or no questions across five areas. Your result is one word: Build, Pilot or Prepare.
Week 3, Prioritize. Score every idea on value and readiness, then write two or three ways to order your top ideas and choose a path.
Week 4, Build the ask. A plan in four stages with a gate between each. The five lines a budget holder reads. Answers to the tough questions. Six beats for a fifteen-minute readout.
My Finished Roadmap and Toolbox. Your roadmap, a backup file, a copy to paste and a printout.
Optional AI help. The kit works without AI. If you like Claude, optional "Using AI?" boxes are there, designed for the free version.
Four weeks is the shape. Go at your own pace.
Formats
One interactive file that opens in any modern browser. No install, no account, no internet needed.
Printable PDF
Templates spreadsheet, for Excel or Google Sheets
A filled example from an invented company
Your answers stay on your computer
How to get it
It's an instant download for $99, and the license is for one person. Use it on your own work and with your own clients. Get The 30-Day Roadmap Kit here: https://www.davidsonconsult.com/downloads/p/the-30-day-roadmap-kit
FAQ
Do I need AI to use it?
No. You can run all thirty days with the kit, a notebook and a spreadsheet. The AI boxes are optional.
Who is it for?
Managers who got handed the plan, consultants who want a method they can run again, and anyone who needs budget approval for a pilot.
Is this only for AI projects?
No. It works for AI, a new system, a reorganization, or a new way of working.
Where do my answers go?
They save in your browser, on your computer. Open the file the same way each time, in the same browser, so they're there. There's a backup button for moving computers.
Can a team use it?
Yes. The spreadsheet has the same templates for a team filling them in together.
Is it legal or HR advice?
No. It's a method that organizes your thinking. It doesn't decide for you.
Created by Davidson. Content, method and design direction by Davidson. Interactive tool built with Claude.
