Aphorisms: Planning to fail
Failure to plan is sometimes bad
You don’t have to plan every moment of your life. I don’t map out every trip to the store. Sometimes it is fun to wander.
The general sentiment of the standard version of this aphorism is good, but the execution chooses cleverness over correctness, and does not even have the advantage of being shorter. It just comes across as preachy and superior; people telling you that you were “planning to fail” usually really mean “I told you so,” or occasionally “don’t blame me when it all goes wrong,” both more annoying than helpful. My updated version is more helpful and less annoying.
Obsolete saying:
Failure to plan is planning to fail
December 24th, 2015 at 4:53 am
Managers often use pithy little sayings like “Failure to plan is planning to fail.” in order to impress their weak-minded team members, or in some cases, to have some syllables to say at a meeting that they could otherwise not contribute to. To think that a little management catch-phrase is all that’s needed to solve some complex technology issue is basically admitting telegraphing “I’m an idiot, and cannot control the sounds coming out of my mouth.” Dilbert has covered this topic exceptionally well by thinking outside the box, while going after the low-hanging fruit, and simultaneously maintaining a clear 30,000 foot view. Seriously, run away from people who say things like that. :-)