I am an avid believer in the power of planning.  I came across the following quote the other day which really puts the exercise of planning into perspective.

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable”. – Dwight Eisenhower

Planning versus Execution

A pet peeve of mine are stakeholders who view the plan and execution of same as linked activities.  That is, you must follow the plan.

True, having no plan results in chaos more often then not. This does not mean having a plan makes the execution simple and straightforward.  Skill and ability are still required.

Understanding the top level strategy and goals are absolute requirements as execution of a plan commences.  You need to be able to adjust on the fly and you do not always have the luxury to re-plan ( this can particularly apply in the case of a battle).

What is the power in planning

Eisenhower  knows the plans may get thrust aside in the heat of battle or modified on the fly; However, the likelihood of achieving the objective is greatly enhanced by the thought and ideas generated during the planning exercise.

My own big takeaway from this quote is the distinction between executing the activities contained within the plan (during this phase the plan could be considered useless)  and the planning exercise itself (which is invaluable)

So, planning and execution are both important aspects of achieving victory but are separate activities in and of themselves.