Annual strategic plans have a shelf-life problem. The document that felt so solid in October often feels irrelevant by February. Funding shifts, staff leave, new mandates arrive, and suddenly the three-year roadmap doesn’t match reality.
The problem isn’t commitment. It’s methodology. Public health doesn’t operate on predictable annual cycles, so planning as if it does sets you up to fail.
The alternative: break everything down into 90-day action plans that create accountability and build in adaptation.
The Framework: From Vision to Action
Strategic planning for data modernization works best when you cascade from long-term vision down to near-term action. Each layer gets more specific and more time-bound.
| Layer | Time Horizon | Question It Answers | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vision | 25-50 years | What does success look like for our community? | Integrated data systems enable real-time decision-making across all programs |
| Barriers | Current state | What stands between us and that vision? | No access to AI tools; commissioners don’t see value in IT investment |
| Strategic Priorities | 10 years | What focus areas would overcome those barriers? | Provide safe, secure AI access for public health staff |
| Objectives | 5 years | What specifically will we do? | Enable staff to use AI tools with clear policies and approved tools |
| Key Results | 1 year | How will we measure progress? | 80% of staff trained on safe AI use; AI governance group established |
| 90-Day Actions | 90 days | What are the concrete next steps? | Draft AI policy by Oct 15; develop training materials by Nov 30 |
The vision stays constant. Everything below it can adapt as you learn.
Why 90 Days?
Ninety days is long enough to accomplish real work: draft a policy, pilot a process, train a team. But it’s short enough to maintain focus and catch problems before they compound.
It also matches how public health actually operates. You know summer has different capacity than fall. You know budget season consumes certain months. Planning in 90-day cycles lets you work with those rhythms instead of pretending they don’t exist.
What 90-Day Planning Looks Like
This part isn’t revolutionary. It’s just discipline.
Every 90 days, your team meets to translate your annual key results into concrete actions. But the key is that each action gets a specific owner and a specific deadline. Without that, you’ve just made a to-do list that belongs to no one.
Think of it like the difference between a New Year’s resolution and an actual plan. “Get in shape this year” is a resolution. “Run with Marcus on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6am” is a plan. One might happen. The other will.
Here’s how an annual key result of “80% of staff trained on safe AI use” might break down across Q1:
| Action | Owner | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Draft acceptable use policy | Melinda | Oct 15 |
| Coordinate legal and IT review | Melinda | Oct 30 |
| Identify and document approved AI tools | James | Oct 30 |
| Present policy to leadership for approval | Melinda | Nov 15 |
| Develop training curriculum outline | Keisha | Nov 30 |
At the end of the quarter, the team reviews: What got done? What didn’t? What changed? Then you plan the next 90 days based on what you actually learned.
Maybe the policy took longer because legal had questions nobody anticipated. That’s fine. You adjust Q2 to account for it. Maybe James discovered that IT already had an approved tools list nobody knew about. Great. You just saved two weeks and can accelerate the training development.
The point isn’t to predict perfectly. The point is to plan concretely, execute, learn, and adapt.
The Change Management Advantage
Large-scale transformation triggers resistance. “We’re modernizing our entire data infrastructure” sounds threatening.
Small experiments don’t. “We’re piloting a new tool with one team this quarter” is manageable. When it works, you’ve built proof points. When it struggles, you’ve learned something without betting the whole organization.
90-day cycles are inherently agile. You’re not asking people to swallow massive change all at once. You’re testing, learning, and building momentum.
Getting Started
You don’t need to overhaul your entire planning process. Start with one initiative:
- Pick an existing strategic goal
- Break it into what could realistically happen in 90 days
- Assign owners to specific actions with specific deadlines
- Schedule a review meeting for 90 days out
That’s the whole system. The sophistication comes from doing it consistently and getting better at adapting when reality doesn’t match the plan.
We Can Help
F&T Labs has guided public health departments and programs through strategic planning at every scale, from single-program roadmaps to department-wide transformation. We’ve used this exact framework to help teams move from “we have a vision” to “we know what we’re doing this quarter and who’s responsible for it.”
We’re not consultants who parachute in with a framework and leave you to figure out implementation. We’re former public health officials who’ve lived the constraints you’re working within: the budget cycles, the staffing challenges, the competing priorities that make long-range planning feel impossible.
If you’re looking for a partner to help with strategic planning for your organization or a specific program, we’d be honored to talk with you. We have helped organizations of various sizes across the US ranging from non-profits to health departments on their strategic planning journey.
