I came across this quote by Dwight D Eisenhower which summarises planning nicely.
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Those of us who have planned for a while recognise that a plan is only as good as the day it’s made. Real life has a horrible tendency to throw wobblies at you as soon as the ink is dry. So the canny project recognises that it is the process of planning that is really important, and the plans themselves are a happy by-product which may sometime be useful.
It’s the process of planning that helps you think about how to implement your project, how much resource you’ll need, how much time. The more you plan, the more you’ll be aware of the risks to the project, and you can think about how to mitigate them.
Then, when it comes to implementation, and the plan starts to crumble, you’re in a much better position to adapt and have a better chance of brining your project in successfully.
Go forth and plan!
Filed under: Project management
Eisenhower has some great quotes, another favorite of mine is: “Only strength can cooperate, weakness can only beg…” which probably also applies in a management context.
From a collection of Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes…