計画

Keikaku

When we were looking for a name for our enterprise, we knew we needed something that summed up our activities, ambitions and our values in one word. We found it in Keikaku. We had explored the English language and discovered that what we wanted had been taken or was too cliché. However, one of the beauties of the English language is that if we can’t find the right word to say what we want, we either make the word up, or borrow a suitable word from another culture that says more appropriately what we want.

‘Entrepreneur’ is a great French word which means ‘undertaker’. Abseil, angst and delicatessen are examples of German words we use. Japanese words feature in examples such as; karaoke, tycoon and Kanban. We are familiar with them and their use, if not so sure about their origins. The point being, that if there is a word better suited to describing a situation than the English, then we will use it. In our organization we are not precious about where our good ideas come from, and it’s the same about our name. If it suits our purpose, we shall ‘borrow’ it. We have decided to ‘borrow’ Keikaku.

Keikaku as a word, fulfils our need to describe what we do.

It means “Plan” in Japanese. We all need a plan and in Project Management it is essential. It also has other meanings depending upon its use and context. Google Translate tells us it can mean: program, project, schedule, scheme, programme, proposal, suggestion, idea, conception, plot, policy, design, layout, intention, goal, objective, drawing, diagram, blueprint, draft. It is clearly a very versatile word, and one which encompasses a lot of themes which are central to Project Management, our values and our aims.

However, it is the literal meaning which really won us over.

The Japanese character symbols; 計画mean: Total (計) Picture(画).

And that, we believe, is exactly what our business means to our customers. We provide the ‘Total Picture’ for any project.