Why overplanning makes projects fail?
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Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#2Why do some of our best ideas come out of nowhere? This post talks about how planning too much can kill creativity, and why greatness often shows up when you least expect it.
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#3Planning and Learning are toxic to each other -
As you learn, the scope of the plan must change.
As you plan, you reduce the scope of what you may learn.
Example: We are migrating legacy code to new hosting with a small change. The plan is straightforward and simple. As we progress through migration we learn about unsupported dependencies and bad code practices in the legacy code, so we have to replan.
Previous comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41183984
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If you don't address budget when you talk about planning, you are missing the biggest problem.
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#4Strict detailed plans give illusion of more control. But unless given domain and technology is very familiar and whole team knows it very well, unforeseen stuff cascading everywhere will wreak havoc on it.
Have you seen a very detailed plan yet very flexible release date mixed together?
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#5Why do some of our best ideas come out of nowhere? This post talks about how planning too much can kill creativity, and why greatness often shows up when you least expect it.
The scariest and most exciting words are "That's funny ..."
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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka” but “That’s funny...” —Isaac Asimov (1920–1992)
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#6Serendipity is real and hugely important to innovation.
That said, I've worked exactly 0 jobs that had too much planning in 20 YOE. However I worked lots of jobs with over-measuring. Constant check-ins, syncs, status meetings, team wide weeklies, etc. Measuring every step we take before we take the next one, but no vision as to wear this journey is supposed to actually lead.
This presents its own danger, and Big Agile Industrial Complex is the current manifestation of this problem.
I think its a micro-optimization that creates a macro problem.
We did not get from the Wright Brothers to a Boeing 777 with lots of minute check-ins and week-long visions of micro deliverables along the way.
You DO get improvements applying that process to say- churning out the current plane on the factory floor in a 25% more efficient manner, step by step. Not a lot of planning for what 6 months looks like there.
So one needs to match the type of problem they are solving with the correct amount of vision & planning.
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#7Strict detailed plans give illusion of more control. But unless given domain and technology is very familiar and whole team knows it very well, unforeseen stuff cascading everywhere will wreak havoc on it. Have you seen a very detailed plan yet very flexible release date mixed together?
+1 Illusion of control is absolutely the correct phrase for these types of problems
You can run into this with certain types who want to talk through every possible eventuality in their head they have imagined, so they can feel like they have control of outcomes. Of course the stuff that happens in life is none of the things they imagined.
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#8When I worked full-time, the biggest demotivator was when my manager wanted to plan every aspect of a project. It took all the fun out of exploring. And now I work for myself, and I am much more productive than ever because I just let most projects go where the wind blows...
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#9Serendipity is real and hugely important to innovation. That said, I've worked exactly 0 jobs that had too much planning in 20 YOE. However I worked lots of jobs with over-measuring. Constant check-ins, syncs, status meetings, team wide weeklies, etc. Measuring every step we take before we take the next one, but no vision as to wear this journey is supposed to actually lead. This presents its own danger, and Big Agil…
Yeah, planning can feel like a trap sometimes. But take the example of the discovery of penicillin. It was a fluke... If the scientist had followed rigid steps, he might’ve missed that moment. Flexibility and being open to surprises is key.
Re: Why overplanning makes projects fail?
#10When I worked full-time, the biggest demotivator was when my manager wanted to plan every aspect of a project. It took all the fun out of exploring. And now I work for myself, and I am much more productive than ever because I just let most projects go where the wind blows...
Yeah, I totally get it...
When you let things flow instead of sticking to a rigid plan, you end up finding better ideas. It’s like the pressure’s off, and the real work happens naturally. That freedom makes everything more productive ;)