Thought for the Day 18 August 2017

“Thoughtful Thursday” usurped Friday’s title yesterday. So I had “Frantic Thursday” instead. Today I must therefore put “Frantic Friday” back in its box and do “Thoughtful Friday”. (For one week only I hope!)

But yesterday’s experience got me thinking about how difficult it is to stick to plans, no matter how well you develop them. Something else always seems to come up that has to be done right now, whether you like it or not. That then, reminded me of a tongue-in-cheek definition of planning, I used to quote in courses I delivered in Project Management. It goes like this:

“PLANNING is the art of INADEQUATE PEOPLE making INNACURATE DECISIONS based on FALLACIOUS INFORMATION.”

Days like yesterday make me realize just how true this is. No matter how hard I try, my knowledge is incomplete or lacking altogether, so I’m inadequate; my assumptions turn out to be largely wrong or I miss out some key assumptions, so my information is fallacious, and thus I turn out to be inadequate.

This does not mean that planning is a bad idea. It certainly isn’t, because it provides a starting point and a framework for progress. But it does mean that the PLAN is not the be-all and the end-all. And that leads to my thought for today:

“Planning only provides the peg in the ground. Execution requires agility and creativity to respond quickly and effectively to ever changing needs, priorities, challenges, circumstances and people!”

Enjoy your day.

Cheers, Dave