The Absolute Imperative of Planning

If you consider the major function of managing, it is to ensure that desired organization objectives are met. This is accomplished by exercising control over scarce resources. However, the word control has two connotations, and we must be careful which one we intend.

One meaning of the word is power and domination. In management, this is sometimes called the command-and-control approach, which in its worst form degenerates into the use of fear and intimidation to get things done. This method works when people have no other desirable options for employment or are not free to leave (as in the military or a prison). However, in a robust economy, very few will tolerate such management for long.

Control is exercised by comparing where you are to where you are supposed to be so that corrective action can be taken when there is a deviation.

The second meaning of control—and the one I advocate for managers—is highlighted in the extracted quotation. Control is exercised by comparing where you are to where you are supposed to be so that corrective action can be taken when there is a deviation. Notice that this is an information systems or guidance definition. Further note that two things are necessary for control to exist. First, you must have a plan that tells where you are supposed to be in the first place. If you have no plan, then, you cannot possibly have control. I think we need to remind ourselves of this almost every day, because it is so easy to forget when you are constantly being assaulted by demands to do this and that and a million other things.

No plan, no control!

Predicting the future is easy. It’s knowing what’s going on now that’s hard.

—Fritz R. S. Dressler

Second, if you don’t know where you are, you can’t have control. As the second quotation says, knowing where you are isn’t as easy as it may seem, especially in doing knowledge work. For example, you say you expect to write 10,000 lines of code by today, and you’ve written 8,000. Does that mean you’re 80 percent of where you should be? Not necessarily. You may have found a more efficient way to write the code.

In any event, the major point to remember is that you cannot have control unless you have a plan, so planning is not an option.

Another trap that causes people not to plan is to believe that they have no time to plan; they need to get the job done really fast! This is counterintuitive, but think about it—if you have forever to get something done, then you don’t need a plan. It’s when the deadline is tight that the plan becomes really important. As a simple example, imagine flying into Chicago and being late. You have a meeting across town in less than an hour. You’ve never been to Chicago, but when the rental car attendant asks if you need a map, you say, “I don’t have time for a map. I’ve got to get to my meeting really fast!” Not very likely, is it?