Rol Fessenden wrote:
> Many people feel a strong need to plan and organize before they begin to
> act. And some projects, especially complicated but well-defined ones, are
> more prone to success under this philosophy.
>
> However, other people have a strong need to act and make something happen.
> Provided this action is accompanied with reflection, this is a powerful
> stimulator of learning, actually far more powerful than the former method.
...snip...
Rol,
Your post made me think of Karl Weick's quote of the little girl in
Sensemaking in Organizations: "How can I know what I think until I see
what I say?" There is value at time in just the cycle that you propose
(and it fits a lot of learning theory). I find two difficulties. The first
is giving up the assurance that comes from the planning. It may be false
but it is a security blanket and a protection from blame later on. (Yes,
I think those motivations are still potent in many organizations.) The
second problem is figuring out which model to use when. Both have merit;
there are situations when planning before action is very useful even
necessary (e.g., launching a spacecraft, lighting your last match at a
snowy camp site). How do you know which to use? How do you get yourself to
follow some sort of practice that will get you on the right track?
-- T.J. Elliott Cavanaugh Leahy http://idt.net/~tjell 914 366-7499Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>