Remember Lucy holding the football, coaching you? How did that work out?
“Everyone has plan until the get in the boxing ring.” Famous words of Mike Tyson. Life is about jumping in, and yeah, you can go where you want instead of where you should. But you may have to answer for mistakes.
Part of life is embracing that gift. Part of life is recognizing that people insisting on process are merely Lucy guiding you until she pulls the football away.
“Fail to plan and you plan to fail”. That mantra has lead us to worship at the alter of over-credentialed hair brains. Yes, project managers and the administrative cast with LETTERS after there names denoting some type of inerrant expertise.
They Live By The Tyranny Of The Plan
All work must stop in order for the “administrator” to reset the plan, because they have completed a top down estimate WITHOUT consulting those who are involved in the WORKFLOW.
No work proceeds until the plan is adjusted, otherwise you fail.
But what about the days PRIOR to Gantt Charts?
The Empire State Building Was Built in 13 Months
Yes. 13 months, managed on one sheet of paper. 85 floors completed, wired, safe, ready for leasing. And it was under 18% budget.
https://chrisgagne.com/1255/mary-poppendiecks-the-tyranny-of-the-plan/
How?
So now 85 years later they still have the big electrical boxes, but guess what: they got the building up faster because of it. Here I think is the critical thing. The schedule was not laid out based on the details of the building design. They didn’t design the building and then create the schedule. They created the schedule and then created the design to fit in the schedule. The building was designed based on the constraints of the situation.
