Dwight D. Eisenhower on Plans and Planning

December 17th, 2008 | by Conrad Walton |

Dwight D. Eisenhower: “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

This seems to sum up the essence of web project management. There are always plans and as long as you understand the plans, then you can change them when you need to, and you will need to.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

It’s really important that you understand what you want to do with your web site. You need to know the content and how the content is organized. You need to know what the user is supposed to do and why they come to your site. You should have a site map, with little boxes and lines and arrows between them all. You should have a list of pages with the content written out for each page. You should have all that.

But…

As Pee Wee Herman said, there’s always a big but.

You need to know all of that stuff so that you can change it when you need to. Things will be different than you assume they will be. Something will come up. Something will break. Something will work better than expected.

Usually, when a client sees their site for the first time, even after they planned it and agreed to it in detail, they want changes. It happens every time. I have NEVER built a site to plan and had the client approve it without changes. Doesn’t happen. It won’t happen to you either.

Just be ready for it when it comes, because it’s coming.

Please Comment: 1 Comment »

One Response to “Dwight D. Eisenhower on Plans and Planning”

  1. john black says:

    Great post. My site might be able to help your readers with seo.

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