“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything”
This quote basically sums it up. Even if everything doesn't go according to plan, thinking through and planning the project early on is super important.
For me, creating a plan was quite daunting because everything was so uncertain at the beginning. There were so many variables that depended on each other; will people respond? How do I know I'm doing the right thing? Will health and safety approve? Will I get funding? At the time, I didn't feel super confident about the solution I had created (I'm no expert after all) and it felt paralyzing.
After talking to my mentor, however, I felt more confident in running with my assumptions. I spent time creating a very detailed, step-by-step action plan and suddenly I got my sense of confidence back.
With any big project involving multiple stakeholders, you will probably go through a phase of thinking, "what the heck am I doing" (or maybe not if you have lots of experience). My advice to you is this: choose a direction even if things are ambiguous and run with it. Be confident in your research and trust the process.
I used this platform that you're on right now! It's called Notion and it will change your life if it hasn't yet already. Here are just a few examples of its functionality: