Menu
Tomek's blog
  • Contact & About
Tomek's blog
Photo by Sven Mieke on Unsplash

So You Have a Plan, huh?

Posted on March 9, 2020February 6, 2021 by Tomek Kaczanowski

Yesterday during a group workshop there was a task to facilitate. It seemed pretty simple to me. “Piece of cake”, I said to myself, and I volunteered to facilitate this session.

I’ve seen it being done before, and I was sure I am up to the job. I quickly came with a plan. It was a good plan. First, we do this, then that, and then this and this and ta-da! we’ll have it. I had it all figured out.

Piece of cake, right?

And then I started facilitating. In the beginning, all went well. I had it under control. We progressed good, really good… and then things started to fall apart. Someone from the group suggested a change in the approach. It was reasonable, and we followed it, already deviating from my perfect plan. Then, an unexpected (but essential!) discussion arose, which threw me off the balance – it definitely wasn’t a part of my plan.

So, my perfect plan went bust and I had to fight hard to help the group reach the expected outcome. Eventually, I did manage to do what was planned, but at a much higher cost than I expected (and it took us much longer than I anticipated).

What Wise People Say

This experience reminded me of what Mike Tyson used to say about plans:

Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the face.

So yeah, I had my perfect plan. But the real work started when I got hit. Then I had to think and act fast, then I had to give it all I had got to reach the goal.

Still, planning helped me immensely. At least, I had some parts figured out and I had some scenarios already processed in my head. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if I started this session without any upfront preparations!

Before a battle, planning is everything. Once the fighting has begun, it's worthless - Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Lesson Learned

Make plans but be prepared for the unexpected anyway.

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related Posts

  • facilitation
  • mike tyson
  • planning
  • Leave a ReplyCancel reply

    Follow me on Twitter

    My Tweets

    Subscribe to Blog

    My Books

    Practical Unit Testing - JUnit Practical Unit Testing - TestNG Bad Tests, Good Tests kanban for your team 1,2,3 kanban Złe testy, dobre testy

    Tags

    4dx agile book review capacity planning conference constraints continuous improvement daily scrum decision taking discussion effectiveness review estimation experiment facilitation feedback funny getting things done goals interview kanban leadership management management 3.0 meetings notes organisational culture procrastination productivity psychological safety rant remote work retrospective scrum scrum sprint sociocracy sociocracy 3.0 team testing tips & tricks tools transparency visualization wip work in process work in progress

    There is no Planet B. Act Now!

    There is no Planet B. Act Now!
    There is no Planet B. Act Now!

    Follow me on LinkedIn

    Tomasz Kaczanowski

    Top Posts & Pages

    • ACE! Conference 2015
      ACE! Conference 2015
    • Sociocracy 3.0 Effectiveness Review
      Sociocracy 3.0 Effectiveness Review
    • Interview Tool: Moving Motivators
      Interview Tool: Moving Motivators
    • 4DX: LAG vs. LEAD
      4DX: LAG vs. LEAD

    Categories

    • agile (32)
    • book (7)
    • event (2)
    • facilitation (2)
    • organization (11)
    • productivity (32)
    • sociocracy (10)
    • team (5)
    • testing (2)
    • tools (16)
    • Uncategorized (9)
    • varia (30)
      • remote work (2)
      • ux (2)

    No Business On A Dead Planet

    No Business On Dead Planet
    No Business On Dead Planet
    ©2025 Tomek's blog | WordPress Theme by Superb Themes
    %d