Planning

My favorite quote on planning comes from General Dwight Eisenhower about the preparations for D-Day: "Plans are useless, but planning is essential." This added insight to an old maxim "The first shot renders obsolete the best-prepared (battle) plans." Eisenhower explained that intensively working through many different plans, and especially what could go wrong, allowed them to effectively adapt as problems arose: They knew which problems were critical, and which fixes were likely to be successful.

Our effort does not have the resources to engage in this sort of intensive planning effort. However, one way to acknowledge this lesson is to avoid the trap of putting too much effort and faith into "the plan." Instead, focus on having mini-plans (modules of a larger plan) that have maximum impact.

Action items:

1. Identify high-impact modules.
2. Identify the "Who will be doing what with which resources to whom."
   • What organizations have primary responsibility for which tasks
     • capabilities
     • intention/acceptance
     • stated commitment
   • Fail-over to secondary organizations
     • Types of failure: reduced capabilities, delayed response, ...
     • Handoff and resumption of responsibility
       • How does secondary organizations decide that they should take responsibility
       • Communication of handoff
       • How does primary organizations communicate that it can now take on its responsibilities, and manage the changeover
   • Example organizations: CERTs, Red Cross, Neighborhoods