Timely Tuesday

Where Do You Get Alternative Plans?

Someone has aptly noted that the cleanliness of

theory is no match for the mess of reality. If we start doing our planning within the context of where we are right now, we may soon give up.

Somehow we have to take our mind away from the negative

situation at hand and draw from both our experience and the experiences of others all of the different ideas that may be there. If you're stuck in some quicksand, there is little use in analyzing its consistency. Better to look for a nearby branch!

For the moment, we need to ignore the problem of the

present and consider the possibilities of the future. There are a number of ways of doing this: The Random List. Some people prefer to sit down with a blank sheet and just list out all the ideas that come to them in any random fashion. Then they go back and try to order these in some logical way, eliminating the ones that won't work. The Slip Technique.Others find that the slip technique works well. On a batch of three-by-five cards or-less expensive!-slips of paper, write down every idea you have. Pay no attention to logic or what has gone before. Later on, spread these writen ideas out on a table and arrange them in ways that will work into a usable plan.

This process has the double benefit of showing gaps that can prompt us to identify new ways of filling in missing steps. This approach also works very well as a brainstorming technique with other people.

You should utilize the one that best works for you. Which plan do you think the US military would use?