Are You A Searcher Or A Planner?

From a "How-do-you-tackle-problems?" perspective, there are basically two types of people: Searchers and Planners.  Searchers see a need, identify a feasible solution, find the resources required to get started, and hit the ground running.  Planners see a need, identify the best solution, find the resources required to finish the job, and launch when success is (theoretically) assured.

I was reminded of this this dichotomy by Jason Riley's op-ed in the August 21 Wall Street Journal on  the different approaches to treating malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.  Riley writes approvingly of entrepreneurial Searchers, who "prefer to work case-by-case, using trial and error to tailor solutions to individual problems, fully aware that most remedies must be homegrown."  And he sneers at the bureaucratic Planners who, while well-meaning, take a large-scale, top-down approach to issues such as poverty, which they see as "technical engineering problem[s] that [their] answers will solve," in the words of economist William Easterly.

I don't know much anything about malaria or public health policy, so I can't comment on the aptness of Riley's comments in this particular case.  But I agree with his larger perspective: Planning is overrated and sometimes even counterproductive.  I know from personal experience that planning can become an end in itself--you can get so caught up in the process of planning that the plan becomes a proxy for the problem, and when the plan's complete you feel a sense of accomplishment, even though all you've done is finish the plan!

I studied entrepreneurship with a brilliant guy named Chuck Holloway in business school, and one of the principles he stressed was the importance of being able to pull back, assess your progress (or lack thereof), and adjust course accordingly.  He taught us to avoid unnecessary long-term commitments and plans that can't be revised and to keep our planning horizons realistically short.

This philosophy is essential in any entrepreneurial situation where resources are tightly constrained and the future is highly uncertain, but I'd argue that it can be just as useful in other circumstances.  In fact, a lack of resource constraints can be a distinct disadvantage because it can lead to an overemphasis on planning at the expense of actual work.

I see a parallel in the rise of the rapid development approach to software in the 1980s, which replaced longer-term, planning intensive models.  As Wikipedia notes, "The problem with previous methodologies was that applications took so long to build that requirements had changed before the system was complete, often resulting in unusable systems."  Bingo.  And that's not just a problem with software development.

I don't mean to suggest that planning's useless.  Eisenhower was a pretty thorough Planner, and it's hard to argue with the results of D-Day.  But every planning process should be tailored to fit the situation, and we need to keep in mind the tendency of plans to consume available time and resources.  I also think we need to understand where we sit on the Searcher-Planner spectrum as individuals, because sometimes our natural inclinations will be just the right fit for the circumstances, while at other times we'll need to push beyond our comfort zone or find someone else to do the job.

One of my favorite stories about planning comes from Joan Didon's The Year of Magical Thinking, her moving, thoughtful and surprisingly funny memoir about coping with several deaths in her family.  She writes about her first years of marriage to the writer John Gregory Dunne:

My memory of those years is that both John and I were improvising, flying blind.  When I was clearing out a file drawer recently I came across a thick file labeled "Planning."  The very fact that we made files labeled "Planning" suggests how little of it we did.  We also had "planning meetings," which consisted of sitting down with legal pads, stating the day's problem out loud, and then, with no further attempt to solve it, going out to lunch.  Such lunches were festive, as if to celebrate a job well done.

I think we've all been there.

UPDATE: Greg Neichin adds a great line in the comments from Herb Kelleher, co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines:

We have a "strategic plan."  It's called doing things.

Comments

[Amy]

There's something about sitting down with pads of paper, nifty pens, and a laptop computer with an empty Excel spreadsheet. Somehow, just having these items readily at hand makes you feel like you've already accomplished a lot! I think that's why I bought six mechnanical pencils at Safeway last week. Just putting them in my tote made me feel brisk, efficient, and purposeful!

[Greg]

Reminds me of the Herb Kelleher quote that I used to have hanging on the wall in my office...

"We [Southwest Airlines] have a 'strategic plan'. It's called doing things."

Keep up the great writing Ed!
Greg

[Ed Batista]

That's a great line from Kelleher, Greg. I'm going to add it to the post in an update.

And thanks to your comment, I'm enjoying Perpetual Motion--good luck this Fall!

Ed