August 2009
Beginner
252 pages
6h 2m
English
Content preview from 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
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Chapter 85. The Value of Planning
"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
SOME PROJECT MANAGERS prefer the quote, "No plan survives contact with the enemy," by General George S. Patton. They reason that it is a waste of time to create plans, since they will be invalid almost from the beginning. This attitude has doomed many projects to failure. There will always be managers who advocate action over planning. Action is seductive, planning is boring.
Boring as it may be, the sole purpose of planning is not to create a set of documents. Eisenhower realized that the discipline of planning causes you to think about your project. The planning sessions create a deeper understanding of the project. You address work, budget, resources, risks, timelines, and more. As you plan, you gain greater insight into what is needed for success. Your plans will also help you understand if, and how, goals can be achieved. Completed plans are an invaluable way to communicate about the project.
Planning documents record what was discussed and decided. They do not exist to inflexibly dictate a course of action. Unfortunately, the originals will quickly lose their value and relevance. That is why we have two types of planning: initial and ongoing.
The goal of initial ...