[HN Gopher] How to Plan?
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       How to Plan?
        
       Author : kiyanwang
       Score  : 66 points
       Date   : 2022-10-14 06:32 UTC (16 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (kellanem.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (kellanem.com)
        
       | lasermike026 wrote:
       | Oh my word, this is useless. Plan what? It's about the product.
       | Product first them plan for that.
        
         | _se wrote:
         | I mean, presumably the author is talking about planning around
         | how an established company is planning on improving or
         | innovating on their existing product. I don't think the advice
         | is useless to someone who doesn't have much experience with
         | this kind of thing; believe it or not, organizing a large group
         | of people is a complex and difficult thing. "It's about the
         | product" isn't really advice that can be integrated into an
         | organization of any significant size.
        
       | roenxi wrote:
       | Planning in software is limited by two factors:
       | 
       | - If we could articulate what we want, it will happen relatively
       | quickly.
       | 
       | - If we knew what made money, we would all be billionaires. So we
       | probably don't know what makes money.
       | 
       | Current darling in the spotlight, sqlite, advertisies a 3 person
       | team: https://sqlite.org/crew.html. What sort of corporate
       | planning could possibly achieve something with the value-add of
       | sqlite with a 3 person team?
       | 
       | Great software depends on the right person with a clear vision,
       | pushing an outcome. Doesn't have to be someone who knows how to
       | program. If your planning gets in their way it is a problem.
       | Apart from that, it is nice to be organised I guess. It is a
       | coincidence if the value-add parts of the development play out
       | way in a predictable way.
       | 
       | To use the word 'planning' to describe what a software company
       | does is an affront to planners. Software companies guess,
       | communicate & negotiate. Their planning is at best cargo-culting,
       | it influences the future in only the most general sense.
        
       | hbrn wrote:
       | One big issue with planning is that it is enjoyable. And if it is
       | enjoyable, you will likely overdo it.
       | 
       | Planning is "dreaming" about the future. All of your biases will
       | emerge and self-reinforce during planning.
       | 
       | The amount of planning should correlate with predictability of
       | your business. If you're a factory, plan all you want. If you're
       | a startup, have a vision, take baby steps towards it and re-
       | evaluate often.
        
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       (page generated 2022-10-14 23:02 UTC)