Another key concept that I found invaluable was that of the management control loop. To a degree I was already aware of the control loop as work for each stage takes up a large part of my day-to-day activities. However, gaining a theoretical underpinning of the control loop in action was very useful.

• Stage 1: set objectives
• Stage 2: plan, identify milestones, and carry out tasks
• Stage 3: monitor progress
• Stage 4: act on the results of monitoring

Obviously acting on the results of monitoring can involve revisiting any of the preceeding stages, including resetting objectives, replanning, or merely doing nothing except continuing to monitor.