#106: What if I CAN'T plan?

Lack of planning is often ridiculed in conversations, articles, books and blogs. There may be times where it is may seem okay NOT to plan:

• When you have no idea what to do and sitting idle is not an option.
• When you are in a start up and there are known and obvious issues to tackle.

At some point, it may be time to stop the madness and plan.

Why plan? The main outcome is to anticipate scenarios. This has several benefits if you get it right:

• Execution efforts are economical, learning by trial and error is always more expensive.
• Blunders are avoided.
• Friction and angst in execution are lowered as roles and responsibilities are clarified.
• Risk is reduced by eliminating options that make no sense at all.
• Bonus: Conversations, if facilitated well, lead to clarity, bonding and thereby to high performance teamwork.
  

If you don't get it right, you still come out ahead:

• Changing a plan from a baseline provides an opportunity to do so in a rational way (as opposed to an emotional way).
• A closed-loop learning process can be implemented to improve the planning process as well as the planning results. E.g., use the 'lessons learnt' from the plan that did not work to improve. If there was no plan, the actions were random. Yes, something can be learnt but a faulty process means no predictability in the output, so the learning is probably not going to lead to the root causes of failure.

In summary, a lack of planning points to the need for deeper analysis and understanding of the organization's situation. Asking 'why can't you plan?' will uncover some fundamental issues and barriers. Tackle that first, then get on with the job of planning.