It’s easy to complain about plans not working out or of one not being able to implement a plan.

When this happens, the culprit will most often be seen in some external circumstances having changed or having been unexpected. From there, people might reflect on their contribution and how they could have seen what they didn’t see.

But, maybe, they simply overestimate their ability to predict the future and underestimate their ability to develop an understanding of what is. Much of the work that happens when establishing a plan is related to understanding how one wants to approach a project. It describes what one believes to be necessary to reach a specific goal and how one will act to get there.

It’s a process during which gaps of knowledge will appear, priorities should become apparent, and preferences should determine the description of the plan. All of them will shape the plan.

But all of them will also become common ground on which the plan can stand.

Once everyone has been able to develop an idea of the plan and can see what it intends to create, the plan can be forgotten. Those involved in establishing the plan now use their planning as a reference for any missing element in the plan or unknown that has to be dealt with.

Thus, once the plan is available, it is the planning that becomes relevant and essential in allowing the execution to unfold towards the objective of the plan.

However, when people believe that establishing a plan should lead to making it happen as is, they will not be able to benefit from the work they did planning. They’ll have forgotten about it assuming that it was all about the plan.

It’s both.