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I think making plans/planning needs training to be good at - which in turn reduces "overplanning". Knowing what to include, discuss in which forum, what task or

I think making plans/planning needs training to be good at - which in turn reduces "overplanning". Knowing what to include, discuss in which forum, what task or deliverable granularity, etc. is useful doesn't come naturally to most.

sanderjd 3y ago
Agreed. But actually, I kind of feel like people who have had training to get good at planning, are not the most likely people to be good at avoiding "overplanning". I think it's the same kind of incentives as how dentists have a natural bias toward recommending dental work, or chiropractors toward recommending adjustments, or programmers toward recommending writing software, or anyone toward doing a bit more of whatever it is they are trained at and good at than a totally unbiased third party might really need or want. Maybe there's also a bit of a "midwit meme" to this (in all of these cases): inexperienced: don't do it!, some experience (midwit): do it!, extremely experienced: don't do it ... except in these cases where you really should, and include just the right amount, and be very thoughtful about the forum and who to include in the discussion, and calibrate the right level of granularity for this specific project, and ...
- RandomLensman 3y ago
  I think that happens typically when the planning and the execution are very divorced (someone good at/selling using the techniques of planning). I'd say a good operational planer doesn't overplan.
  - sanderjd 3y ago
    I agree, but I guess the point I was trying to make is that I think everybody is susceptible to over-biasing toward thinking the thing they know how to do is super important, to the point that they sometimes over-do it, despite their best intentions. I would say that "a good programmer doesn't write more software than is necessary", but despite my best intentions, I'm certain that I write more software than is necessary, because writing software is my hammer and lots of things look like nails to me. I think it requires more than just being "good" at something to overcome this tendency. I'm sure the very best operational planners, like the very best software engineers, consistently strike the perfect balance, but I suspect most "good" planners, like most "good" (even "great") software engineers I know, still struggle with this tendency.

sanderjd 3y ago

Agreed. But actually, I kind of feel like people who have had training to get good at planning, are not the most likely people to be good at avoiding "overplanning". I think it's the same kind of incentives as how dentists have a natural bias toward recommending dental work, or chiropractors toward recommending adjustments, or programmers toward recommending writing software, or anyone toward doing a bit more of whatever it is they are trained at and good at than a totally unbiased third party might really need or want. Maybe there's also a bit of a "midwit meme" to this (in all of these cases): inexperienced: don't do it!, some experience (midwit): do it!, extremely experienced: don't do it ... except in these cases where you really should, and include just the right amount, and be very thoughtful about the forum and who to include in the discussion, and calibrate the right level of granularity for this specific project, and ...

RandomLensman 3y ago
I think that happens typically when the planning and the execution are very divorced (someone good at/selling using the techniques of planning). I'd say a good operational planer doesn't overplan.
- sanderjd 3y ago
  I agree, but I guess the point I was trying to make is that I think everybody is susceptible to over-biasing toward thinking the thing they know how to do is super important, to the point that they sometimes over-do it, despite their best intentions. I would say that "a good programmer doesn't write more software than is necessary", but despite my best intentions, I'm certain that I write more software than is necessary, because writing software is my hammer and lots of things look like nails to me. I think it requires more than just being "good" at something to overcome this tendency. I'm sure the very best operational planners, like the very best software engineers, consistently strike the perfect balance, but I suspect most "good" planners, like most "good" (even "great") software engineers I know, still struggle with this tendency.