Shooting from the hip is fine when you are surprised with an unpredictable situation requiring immediate action. That is almost never the case in your project even though poor project planning might make it seem otherwise. Was the situation really unpredictable or would adequate risk management have shown you the possibility? Does it even require immediate action, or, do you just want to do something, anything, because you do not know what to do?
“Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something. The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.” ~ Sir John Harvey
“Projecting” without a plan leads to surprises. Most people and most teams do not function well with surprises. Surprises make major mistakes more likely. Major mistakes make failure more likely. Sure, planning will never be perfect and will never account for everything that could go wrong. But a well-built plan, focused clearly on your project’s purpose, will better prepare you for the more unpredictable things that might go wrong because you understand where you are going and how you intend to get there, and you have already considered other things that could go wrong and planned for them. No plan leads to perfect success. But no planning is likely to lead to perfect failure. Don’t be a project cowboy and shoot from the hip! Plan your project. And get help if you need it.
Quintain Project Solutions LLC 