Why Planning Matters But Plans Don't

There is a famous quote from Dwight D Eisenhower in his role as a General. “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” 

I agree with this as do many others. Dave Kellogg, CEO of Host Analytics put it top of his list in this recent selection of quotes.  The sentiment sort of chimes with my practical experience. It is one of those wise sayings. But quite hard to pin down why it fits so well with the real world.

The Joys Of Planning

Start with planning. I have spent a disturbing part of my life preparing, discussion and reviewing plans. Business plans, actions plans, personal plans, whatever. The process works well for:

• Clearing space to think about the whole problem. Just sit down one evening and think about nothing but your plan for the coming week. A great way of clearing space. Elevate this to a strategy session or planning away day. The virtue of focus and removal of distraction is obvious.
• Alignment of goals and expectations. This may seem counterintuitive. But planning is much better for alignment than following a plan. During the planning process everyone understands all points of view. The balance of risks and rewards. The trade offs in allocating resources. Once a plan is set the richness of the discussion is lost.
• Identification of risks. The planning process is one of the rare times when people turn their minds to what might go wrong. Forcing this kind of thinking has lots of benefits. But be careful. Your view of risk will be incomplete. Inevitably. Your competition, customers and colleagues will have ideas outside your broadest thinking. Hence another famous military quote. From Helmuth Von Moltke the Elder, Chief of the German Staff in the 19th Century. “No plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.” Or as Mike Tyson put it “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."
• Planning is a great way of building leadership teams. The debate and analysis of a complex plan forces everyone in the team to fight their corner. And to respect the constraints and challenges the others face. Just social relationships or transactional business help. A good fight over who gets which resources cements the group.
• Allocating resources. Planning with a proper group means everyone understands the same thing.  Why they have the investment, supplies and people they are given. Of course the end plan will not be right so that means the resource allocation will be wrong as well. That is why a good general has a strong, flexible reserve force. Some things business can learn from the military.
• A general also has a line of retreat. A fascinating part of the planning process is creating plan B. Or looking at different scenarios. This opens the eyes more than risk assessment in my experience. 

Of course planning is also the best possible way to create a plan. But don’t let the disappointment of the end result put you off!

Don't Make A Plan For Your Startup

So why are plans useless?

• As soon as the discussion is over and the notes and charts are assembled into a plan, you have a fixed result. Nuance, balance and alternatives are subservient to the end goal. This encourages a constrained mindset and an inflexible response to the real world.
• Plans give an illusion of certainty. It is worse if things go to plan for even a short period. The plan becomes an icon to be revered. And an obstacle to clear thinking.
• Every plan is real only at a point in time. It is static not dynamic. Even if revised often the shelf life is still short. In business, the review periods are long. Six months or a year is common. 3 or 5 years are not unheard of. Time dilutes even the best plans.
• And one more huge weakness. A plan is an excuse to hide behind. One of the most common CYA tricks of corporate managers is “I was working to the plan.” With the unsaid “so I am not to blame” hanging in the air. This is the equivalent of “I was only following orders” in the military. Not behaviour you need in a startup.

Next Steps

Find time for planning. Invest in space and freedom to debate and discuss. Write down the results. Then enjoy a laugh about it when you look back. Don’t try to live by it. Use the process not the plan.

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