[ Thursday, July 14, 2005   Action! by redchurch ]

It is the mark of good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect. - Stevenson

Is there a difference between a plan and a procedure? Let's see...

plan (pln)
n.

1. A scheme, program, or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of an objective: a plan of attack.
2. A proposed or tentative project or course of action: had no plans for the evening.
3. A systematic arrangement of elements or important parts; a configuration or outline: a seating plan; the plan of a story.
4. A drawing or diagram made to scale showing the structure or arrangement of something.
5. In perspective rendering, one of several imaginary planes perpendicular to the line of vision between the viewer and the object being depicted.
6. A program or policy stipulating a service or benefit: a pension plan.

procedure (pr-sjr)
n.

1. A manner of proceeding; a way of performing or effecting something: standard procedure.
2. A series of steps taken to accomplish an end: a medical procedure; evacuation procedures.
3. A set of established forms or methods for conducting the affairs of an organized body such as a business, club, or government.
4. Computer Science. A set of instructions that performs a specific task; a subroutine or function.

The plan is the what and the why, the procedure is the how. I've been thinking about the difference lately, because sometimes even when you plan thoroughly and then move on to the execution stage, something slips through the cracks.

For the last few months I've been struggling with the balance between planning and doing, or implementation of the plan. Somewhere along the way, I always encounter some kind of unforseen problem which causes my wheels to spin in the mud.

Do I go back to the planning stage? Do I work around and allow the end result to be compromised or lower quality?

No plan is ever perfect, and if you focus too much on plan perfection you're going to spend all of your time planning and not enough doing.

And then, the other day, it hit me; Procedure. I'd always thought of a plan and a procedure as being one in the same. But the more I started to think about it, I realized I was wrong. A lot of business and organizations, especially successful ones, establish strict procedures for certain tasks not for some mysterious love of planning, but in the very idea that you can't plan for everything. This is the very essence of risk mitigation.

All of this may seem incredibly obvious, but such simplicity is deceptive. If a plan is a roadmap, including goals and objectives and some ideas on how to achieve them, then a procedure is a tasklist, or a series of steps that regardless of problems or obstacles, allow you to reach the goal.

A plan is the commander's vision laid out for everyone to see. A procedure is the grunt's step-by-step instruction booklet.

This is a very important distinction when you're working alone. One of the troubles I've had on my personal projects is the successful switching between Commander and Grunt. When I finish my planning and begin my implementation, I often am overwhelmed with a sense of "Where do I start?" or "How should I go about this?"

It has never been for lack of planning, but lack of procedure. With a procedure fit to execute the plan, you always know where to start. All that's left is the simple actions.