I call my approach to making projects happen the “Four D” methodology. In fact, as you will find out if you attend one of my workshops, there are seven “D’s”:
1. Discover and Define
2. Detail and Doubt
3. Deliver and Do it again
4. Do it better
You need to find out what your stakeholders want to achieve, make and share a realistic plan incorporating the expertise of your team, allowing for what went wrong last time AND what went well last time, implement and adapt the plan in a methodical way, and at the end of the project make sure you learn from your latest experience. There is no single method or tool that always works. But I believe you always have to consider the four areas above.
We all have different realities at work, at home, and when pursuing our hobbies. Sometimes we get thrown into a project without any time to plan. Sometimes we are given too much time to plan.
Too much planning is not necessarily good, but not enough planning is definitely bad. In the end though implementation is really all that matters. A bad plan can be corrected if you implement well, a good plan can be ignored by your team if you do not implement it well.