Evaluate the Plan

Winston Churchill once said: "Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential." He knew this better than anyone as his career and reputation took major hits by a plan gone awry. 

In 1914, during WWI, Churchill was Lord of the Navy, spending most of his days and nights planning how he could end the war. He thought of himself as a military strategist.

"I have it in me to be a successful soldier. I can visualize great movements and combinations," he confided to a friend. 

So, after doing much research, he devised a plan that could end the war. It would be an attack on the Gallipoli Peninsula on the northern side of the Dardanelles. "The price to be paid in taking Gallipoli would no doubt be heavy," he wrote, "but there would be no more war with Turkey.” Even the British War Cabinet supported Churchill's plan. 

But in the end, it was an epic failure that resulted in enormous casualties. The invasion had been dismantled by incompetence and hesitancy by military commanders, but, fairly or unfairly, Churchill was the scapegoat. For the rest of his life, despite his many other accomplishments, he was reminded of his poor planning during the WWI. 

So what needs to happen after a plan goes poorly? The blame game does not work. What works is an honest assessment of the situation. Here are 7 questions to guide us:

1. Was the cause a production problem or design? Did the plan breakdown because of the execution or the details of the plan?

2. Was there a communication problem? Was the plan not understood by all?

3. Was there a lack of adjustments in the plan? Patriots head coach Bill Belichick often says that if you wait until halftime to make adjustments, it's too late.

4. Was there second-order thinking in the initial planning stages? Second-order thinking requires the planner to anticipate the problems before implementation. 

5. Was there missing information in the planning stages?

6. Were there internal or external biases that affected the plan? 

7. Was the plan quantified correctly before implementation? 

When Churchill looked back on his planning of the Gallipoli invasion, he probably asked himself some version of all of these. The answers helped him when he was making plans during WWII.

Let’s make sure all plans, good or bad, are thoroughly evaluated. 

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