Florida Chart Map

Florida Chart Map

Why We Resist Planning

"Remember, it's Ready, Aim, Fire; any other sequence is counterproductive."

- Bryce's Law

The short answer: "Because it requires work."

The long answer: People tend to resist gazing into the crystal ball and prefer to react to life as it passes them by. Some people believe planning in today's ever changing world is a waste of time, that you must be more "agile" and accommodate changes as they occur. As anyone who has designed and built anything of substance knows, this is utterly ridiculous. We would not have the many great skyscrapers, bridges, dams, highways, ships, planes, and other sophisticated equipment without the efforts of architects and engineers. Without such planning, our country would look essentially no different than how the pioneers first discovered the continent. Although we must certainly be flexible in our plans, and we will inevitably make some mistakes along the way, little progress would be made if we did not try to plan a course of action and control our destiny.

People often take planning for granted, that someone else will be making plans for us, such as government officials, our corporate management, or even the elders of our families. Consequently we become rather lax about looking into the future. Nor is there any encouragement by anyone to plan our affairs, such as a tax break. Whereas other countries offer incentives to save money for the future, such as Japan, America does not. Therefore, planning is a rather personal activity; we either see the virtue in doing so or we do not.

Americans have become legendary reactionaries who procrastinate until it is too late. We see this in everything from business planning, to career planning, family planning, financial planning, and even planning for our demise. It is simply not in the American psyche to plan, but to react instead. There are plenty of examples to illustrate the point; such as Pearl Harbor (where General Billy Mitchell predicted the attack with great accuracy 17 years prior to December 7th, 1941); there is also Hurricane Katrina (where engineers and government officials knew well in advance of the weaknesses in New Orleans' system of dykes and levees, yet did nothing about it); and, of course, 9/11 (where we learned a hard lesson of dropping our defenses in the face of terrorism).

Years ago, a long range business plan was for five-to-ten years. Such plans have become scarce in recent times; probable casualties of a dynamic world economy. Now, "long range" either means until the end of the fiscal year or end of the quarter. It is even difficult to get a prioritized list of objectives for a department, let alone a whole company. Instead, companies are now operating under a whirlwind of ever changing "priority ones," thus confusing workers and causing them to be counterproductive.

In the I.T. arena, planning is still very much a faux pas, but then again, it has always been such. For example, in our "PRIDE"-Information Systems Engineering Methodology (ISEM), developers would like to skip through the early phases used for planning and design, in order to get to the programming phases. In other words, they didn't feel comfortable in planning and instead preferred to be writing software. This makes for an interesting paradox: although they liked to skip down to programming (where the "real work" was performed), they also liked to complain about deficiencies in requirements definition and other design specifications (which would naturally result from the preceding phases had they been performed). The most common excuse you hear from developers is, "The users do not know what they want." Basically, this is an admission that the developer is either not properly trained in or lacks the discipline to plan properly.

Part of the problem is that we have become very impatient for results and I think this can be attributed to our technology. For example, we now expect information at our fingertips, instant communications, quick turnarounds in medicine, etc. Instead of patiently waiting for results, we now want instant gratification. Consequently, activities such as planning are perceived as interferences for getting a job done.

There are, of course, several tools available for planning,

* Calendars - to remind us of important dates. Even though there are many varieties in paper form and automated on computers and cell phones, it is interesting to see how few people actually use them.

* Statistics and trend analysis - which is actively used in business to track historical activity, and hopefully to project corporate direction. Perhaps the best known entity to use such tools in the U.S. Bureau of the Census who produces some rather interesting projections which are often overlooked by the general populace.

* Documentation - When building new products or other major structures, a set of blueprints are required to act as a road map during construction. Without such blueprints, construction or manufacturing cannot be effectively implemented or managed. The same is true in the realm of Information Systems, without a well thought out set of blueprints (flowcharts and other graphical techniques), you cannot assemble a system regardless of how well you can program. There are also project planning techniques like Gantt Charts, PERT, and CPM to express planned work dependencies, schedules, and precedent relationships.

* Priority modeling tools - to keep track of objectives in priority sequence. This is also referred to as "To Do lists" or "Punch lists." Regardless, the intent is to make people cognizant of objectives and their priorities, thereby assuring workers are accomplishing the proper tasks in the proper order.

CONCLUSION

If we do not understand or appreciate the need for something, we tend to avoid it, but that is not the excuse here. We all have at least a rudimentary idea of what simple planning can do for us, we just balk at doing it.

We fail in planning not because we lack the proper tools, there are actually quite a lot of them available to us, but simply because we lack the discipline or desire to do so. Rather, we prefer to wait until disaster strikes so we can blame others for our problems and hope they can bail us out.

Like it or not, planning represents work. It is also something many of us are not disciplined to do, regardless of how simple it is to perform. We can rationalize why we do not plan all we want, but in the end, it is because of one thing, plain and simple: we are lazy.

If you would like to discuss this with me in more depth, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail.

About the Author

Tim Bryce is a writer and management consultant with M. Bryce & Associates of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the field. He is available for lecturing, training and consulting on an international basis. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com
Comments and questions are welcome.

His writings can be found at:
http://www.phmainstreet.com/timbryce.htm

Copyright © 2008 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

Northeast Florida Wall Map $199.5 The 2nd edition of the Florida Northeast Region Wall Map measures 66" W x 54" H and is protected by markable/washable laminated surface. Northeast FL: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Madison, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, and portions of Volusia, Lake, Sumter, and Citrus. Includes framing rails, map indexing, mileage chart, and hurricane tracking chart. Published by Universal Map.

Map of Florida $14.99 Map of Florida - Premium Poster

South Florida Wall Map $199.5 The Florida South Region Wall Map by Universal Map measures 68" x 54" and shows all of the counties in Southern Florida: Broward, Henry, Monroe, Charlotte, Highlands, Okeechobee, Collier, Lee, Palm Beach, Desoto, Manatee, Sarasota, Glades, Martin, St. Lucie, Hardee, and Miami/Dade. Additional features include mileage circles, longitude/latitude lines, mileage chart, zip code numbers, and an index on face of map, plus a special hurricane charting map. The full-color reference is protected with a durable laminate finish, which is both markable and washable. Framing rails are included on top and bottom for easy wall mounting.

Northwest Florida Wall Map $219.5 The Florida Northwest Region Wall Map published by Universal Map measures 66" x 35" and includes up-to-date cartography. Protected by a durable lamination, it can be used with waterbased pens. This commercial wall map shows all of Northwest Florida with the following counties: Escambia, Santa Rosa, Madison, Leon, Gadsen, Franklin, Holmes, Washington, Okaloosa, Taylor, Wakulla, Gulf, Liberty, Claxon, Bay, Walton, Jefferson, and Jackson. Other features provided include mileage circles, a mileage chart, zip codes, longitude and latitude lines, an index of cities and counties on the face of the map. A hurricane charting map is a special feature with this wall map. Framing rails are included on top and bottom for easy wall mounting.

Florida Wall Map $199.5 The Florida State-Detailed Wall Map is printed on heavy paper and is protected by a non-glare, laminated material that is both markable and washable. Executive plastic wood-like rails, mounted top and bottom, are included to complete this quality product. In addition, for your convenience, the map is indexed on face of map. This map measures 54" x 60". Insets of major cities in more detail include Daytona Beach, J.F.K. Space Center, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Gainesville, Orlando, Miami, St. Augustine, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Tallahassee, and Pensacola. Details, data, and information found with this map are all state and federal highways major waterways military installations major airports state universities points of interest cities and towns state and parks wildlife areas mileage chart between major cities

Florida Map 1973 $19.99 Florida Map 1973 - Premium Poster

Florida Map 1930 $19.99 Florida Map 1930 - Premium Poster

Florida - Panoramic Map $19.99 Florida - Panoramic Map - Premium Poster

Florida Tourist Map $49.99 Florida Tourist Map - Giclee Print

Tourist Map of Florida $14.99 Tourist Map of Florida - Premium Poster

Jacksonville, Florida - Panoramic Map $19.99 Jacksonville, Florida - Panoramic Map - Premium Poster

Longwood, Florida - Panoramic Map $19.99 Longwood, Florida - Panoramic Map - Premium Poster

Pensacola, Florida - Panoramic Map $19.99 Pensacola, Florida - Panoramic Map - Premium Poster

Greetings from Florida, Map $39.99 Greetings from Florida, Map - Giclee Print

Tallahassee, Florida - Panoramic Map $19.99 Tallahassee, Florida - Panoramic Map - Premium Poster

Map of St. Petersburg, Florida $14.99 Map of St. Petersburg, Florida - Premium Poster

Political Map of Florida, NY $19.99 Political Map of Florida, NY - Premium Poster

Oranges, Hacienda, Map of Florida $49.99 Oranges, Hacienda, Map of Florida - Giclee Print

Map of Florida, c.1839 $99.99 David H. Burr Map of Florida, c.1839 - Framed Giclee Print

Florida: Map, 1591 $19.99 Theodor de Bry Florida: Map, 1591 - Giclee Print