Resistance to planning

Why do some people like to plan everything while others prefer flying by the seat of their pants?

In some industries or circumstances having a plan is critical while in others not necessary at all.

Building a house from scratch with out plans is pretty clearly fraught with danger and in most countries not allowed. You can’t get approval to build without a plan.

When you set out to build a website often the ‘plan’ component simple ends up being a summary and a quote, which meets the bosses requirement for sign off. That is, they have an amount they are approving and a general idea of what is coming.

Planning an overseas trip can be done either way, and the dangers are fairly obvious and can be more readily resolved if things go wrong when you just free wheel it.

An issue with software and web development is that the costs of correct wrong decisions or problems that show up part way through the journey can be more than financial. In many cases critical functionality or needs aren’t met and end up being compromised due to timeline and budget issues.

Of course if they have to be shoe-horned in then there are additional costs as well as perhaps they aren’t included as well as they could be if they were thought out first.

Often the reason for skipping over the planning process is simply haste. Professionals will advise taking it slow when it is them giving the advice, and getting the contract or business plan correct before making rash tactical decisions, but those same professionals will want to rush through marketing processes like a website redevelopment as if it was inconsequential.

And yet here we are in 2019 with digital marketing domination most businesses requirements for growth.

Resistance shows up in many areas;

• resistance to change
• resistance to new technology
• resistance to opposite views
• resistance to the unknown

In some ways resisting planning is natural particularly if the value to it isn’t clear. That’s the job of those of us in the design and development landscape. To explain the value and point out the benefits.

Ultimately if you charge your client to help them plan a new website and create a comprehensive scope document, you will be more likely to win the project for the overall work, the chance of success and them praising you goes up dramatically and you will remove many of the problems that occur during the build process.

Take up the resistance and use it for good!

Everyone needs to plan their next web project, not necessarily in the entirety of the Complete Website Planning book, but each step in that process that can be completed will increase the chances of a successful project.

What type of resistance to planning have you come up against?