Planning

I sent an email today to a co-worker, who manages, among other things, our summer programs. Every year, I feel we get a late start on planning for the summer, and every year I intend to do a better job of planning ahead next time around. So, even though we haven't even been paid in the 2009 year yet at my office and even though I have dozens of other projects with a more immediate deadline than our summer programs have, I thought it would be good to get a head start on the summer, and accordingly sent an email intending to set up a meeting sometime to plan out a strategy.

He had already had a meeting scheduled to plan for the summer, scheduled, as it turns out, for today. At that meeting, he shared emails from both prospective employees and from prospective participants, each inquiring about our summer programs. Supposedly, there have been 5 such calls and emails within the last week. Instead of being ahead of the game, my email was timely, and even behind. And instead of being able to take my time planning for the implementation of a summer registration period, I had a new immediate deadline to meet to put everything in place so that we could be prepared when summer registration does in fact start.

I strongly support planning ahead, in part because I find so much of my time spent trying to catch up from behind. Playing catch up is an exhausting endeavor, because one can never be comfortable and secure in one's current position; one is always racing against time toward some barely attainable goal. The pursuit of that goal invariably requires shortcuts and adjusting on the fly to circumstances that might have been foreseen and prepared for had any thought or planning been put in.

Planning ahead, however, requires that one have the time to prepare ahead. And no matter how much time I think I have to prepare, it never seems to be enough. Similarly, no matter how foolproof I believe the plan to be, it always seems to be undermined by actual events (maybe I just need to create better plans).

In September one school year ago, a former co-worker used to always be in the office when I would arrive at 9 in the morning, and always still be there when I would leave at 6:30 or 7 at night. I asked him what he was working on so late, and he explained that his goal was to put in the extra work in the beginning of the year so he would not need to stay so late and be so stressed at the end of the year, as he had been the previous June. I decided not to remind him of the conversation the following June, when he was still the first one in and last one to leave.

The idea is that spending time upfront is an investment that can save time, energy, and money in the long run. But I wonder if the benefits of planning are only illusory. How well does the investment really pay off?

I have been distinguishing here between "no planning" which is what I am talking about, and "poor planning," where an attempt at planning is made, but proves insufficient or ineffective. But perhaps the distinction isn't useful. Both lead to the same result, and poor planning wastes more resources. So perhaps I don't need to plan. I just need to plan more effectively.