But the jaded PM in me has seen it too many times...
Them: "aha i've worked all night and built a beautifully precise plan [management] will be happy with!"
Mgmt: "this is awesome! But we don't quite get to the goal in time. Can I assign 2 more people [of this specific role] to help you? Where does that get us?"
Mgmt: "Oh and since the budget meeting is tomorrow, let's just get something close enough"
Them: "Great, then let's put down 75%"
[2wks later] - that project has been deprioritized, resources change, plan is entirely irrelevant again.
"it's not the plan, it's the planning" as my old Battalion Commander taught me. As I said near the end of the article when talking about the 2nd example, I didn't really care what the goal was because they had clearly applied so much rigor and thought in their planning process that I could give them my full trust that they would do great things. Pity the leader who thinks they can just make a plan and be done with planning, they won't be in charge for long.
"it's not the plan, it's the planning" as my old Battalion Commander taught me. As I said near the end of the article when talking about the 2nd example, I didn't really care what the goal was because they had clearly applied so much rigor and thought in their planning process that I could give them my full trust that they would do great things. Pity the leader who thinks they can just make a plan and be done with planning, they won't be in charge for long.
The former aerospace engineer in me loves this!
But the jaded PM in me has seen it too many times...
Them: "aha i've worked all night and built a beautifully precise plan [management] will be happy with!"
Mgmt: "this is awesome! But we don't quite get to the goal in time. Can I assign 2 more people [of this specific role] to help you? Where does that get us?"
Mgmt: "Oh and since the budget meeting is tomorrow, let's just get something close enough"
Them: "Great, then let's put down 75%"
[2wks later] - that project has been deprioritized, resources change, plan is entirely irrelevant again.
:P
"it's not the plan, it's the planning" as my old Battalion Commander taught me. As I said near the end of the article when talking about the 2nd example, I didn't really care what the goal was because they had clearly applied so much rigor and thought in their planning process that I could give them my full trust that they would do great things. Pity the leader who thinks they can just make a plan and be done with planning, they won't be in charge for long.
"it's not the plan, it's the planning" as my old Battalion Commander taught me. As I said near the end of the article when talking about the 2nd example, I didn't really care what the goal was because they had clearly applied so much rigor and thought in their planning process that I could give them my full trust that they would do great things. Pity the leader who thinks they can just make a plan and be done with planning, they won't be in charge for long.