Planning in controlled environments is not only useful but necessary. In controlled environments, plans are shared to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. People working at one stage in the process know what to expect from earlier stages. Each stages input and output can be measured. The planned steps results in a predictable outcome. Control means that production meets prediction as planned.

Planning for controlled environments is so predictable that it would be nice to think that everything can be controlled. Unfortunately, even in a perfect world, as plans extend outside of the organization, planning works less and less predictably.

We try to plan for environments that are outside of our control. We have marketing plans, sales plans, purchasing plans, and so on. We base our plans on past results and our future hopes, and, when working with large groups of people, past results have a certain momentum going into the future. However, if we are wise, we still plan for the worst as well as the best.

This is boundary beyond which an organization's and each individual's strategic reflexes become more important. Read on...