Scout Planning Worksheet is a new tool to help Scouts perfect planning skills

When planning an Eagle Scout service project, you have to identify a goal, recruit a team, plan transportation, purchase materials, consider safety and plot each step.

It’s a lot of work.

So much, in fact, that in an ideal world the Eagle project wouldn’t be a Scout’s first experience with formal, documented project planning.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the ideal world.

The BSA has released the Scout Planning Worksheet, a new tool that Scouts can use to plan patrol or troop activities. The goal is to build project-planning prowess that will benefit Scouts in their Eagle project, at school and in life.

The worksheet — created by volunteer Jeff Goldsmith, his professional counterpart Garfield Murden and other BSA volunteers — is available here as a free PDF.

Why a Scout Planning Worksheet

A team of Boy Scout committee members agreed that it would be a good idea if a boy had some specific planning experience prior to his Eagle Scout service project.

After a comprehensive review of Boy Scout literature, the team realized that nothing already existed to fill this need.

The goal was to give a boy familiarity with the planning process throughout his Scouting experience.

And so the Scout Planning Worksheet (No. 512-505) was born. If used properly, planning a big project will be second nature by the time a boy reaches Life Scout.

The idea is that repetition is important to developing and honing any skills.

Project-planning skills will trickle up from the patrol to the troop. Eventually, a senior patrol leader could use the Scout Planning Worksheet to plan troop activities.

Soon it becomes second nature and thus, over time, standard practice for a Scout. The benefits reach beyond Scouting. The skill applies to school assignments, family events and careers.

Where to find the Scout Planning Worksheet

It’s available here as a free PDF.

It will be integrated into the updated Senior Patrol Leaders Handbook, out soon, and will be included in Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (ILST) and other appropriate Boy Scout literature as those come up for review.

Scout Planning Worksheet is a new tool to help Scouts perfect planning skills