Sometimes it seems like project management is like waging war and it takes a tremendous amount of planning if you are going to win the battle.
Here is what Sun Tzu, the famous Chinese general said about planning:
Now, the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.
Then, he followed up with a warning about insufficient planning:
The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.
That is powerful advice and it still applies today over 2,500 years later.
The application for project managers today is obvious, we must diligently plan our projects to be successful.
The modern equivalent of Sun Tzu’s advice is: If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.