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Favourite quotes about planning

129 replies [Last post]
Mike Testro
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Hi Francis

I have been married - to the same lady - for 43 years.

You get less time for murder.

Best regards

Mike Testro
Francis Aborot
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In marriage life, can we plan to have multiple relationships?.. Oh!... You should have Early and late dates to leave and arrive at home....So much constraints it have...Husbands must be at home per day... Take note, pooring of concrete should not be delayed caused by others.

If you are always delay and your wife catch you? Can you request for time extension (EOT) for your marriage?....Im sure your wife will suggest for acceleration plan...

Im sorry Im tired. I have to sleep...
Francis Aborot
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In our time, Einstein theory of Relativity has been proven.. YES!.... After decades of research.......No!......I can’t even imagine how to plan a project if BACK TO THE FUTURE MOVIE and TIME TRAVEL exists today..

Can you have a plan in a 4 dimensional world?
Francis Aborot
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Living without a plan is like walking without a sight.
Mike Testro
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Hi All

Lets not forget Andrew Dick’s contribution to another thread - A Little Light Relief:


It is a bad plan that admits of no modifications. - Publius Syrus 42 BC

Hi Gwen

The point is that since girls have no balls of their own to juggle with they spend most of their time planning to juggle someone elses.

Best regards

Mike Testro
R. Catalan
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Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
Warren Buffett

In Planning:
Sitting in the shade - keyboard jockeys (replacement)

Who planted - excellent planner who do the program but already left for better offer
Gwen Blair
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Real Life Quote when asked why women make better Planners than men?

Why? Women can juggle more than two balls at the same time.

Ohhh I just know I will get crucified for that one!
Mike Testro
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Hi Stephen

I know very little about Jack Hobbs but I was once a millionaire.

After 4 years work in Tokyo I came back with a million in the bank - Yen that is.

Worth about 4 cents in Zimbabwe today.

The way the Bank of England is printing money we could all be £ millionairs and envy the slumdogs in Bombay for their upmarket lifestyle.

Funny old world innit.

(1st centrury to England after they won the toss - it aint over til the last over)

Please don’t try to explain the intricacies of the game to Charleston - he is already a world expert on the subject.

best regards

Mike Testro
Stephen Devaux
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"Is there a positive way for a poor man like me to live like a king, ala Slumdog Millionaire."

Only if you know that Jack Hobbs had 197 first class centuries.
Charleston-Joseph...
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Anoon,

Your post is so sad, full of gloom

While it is true that planning is weathering the present financial crisis,

Is there a positive way for a poor man like me to live like a king, ala Slumdog Millionaire.

Cheers,
Happy Planning and Scheduling
Anoon Iimos
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Planning is weathering the crisis.

If you are rich, then live poor.

If you are poor, then remain poor.
Nestor Principe
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Your schedule is as good as the wall paper.
Stephen Devaux
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"Keep learning and if you don’t know then ask someone who does."

-- Mike Testro
Chris Oggham
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I’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.
Winston Churchill

Planning is the work a manager does to master the future.
Louis Allen

Chris Oggham
Charleston-Joseph...
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Planning is a project team effort to set out what are the project goals and ...

How the project team intend to identifies activities and resources to achieve goals.

Scheduling is the process of correlating identified planned activities in a logical and realistic way of identifying durations, start date and finish date.

Cheers,
Happy Planning and Scheduling
Trevor Rabey
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Planning requires a difficult kind of thought process, the ability to arrange a complex array of ideas and to see various combinations of effects
Thought requires effort and not all executives enjoy it.
It often involves the painful contemplation of unfortunate and undesirable events and arouses reflections on errors of the past.
To those who are inclined to be optimistic in their outlook, planning requires that pessimistic occurrences also be anticipated. The executive, who by habit is motivated by action, is not favourably inclined to sit at his desk and think.
Creative ability is in short supply. It is usually best drawn forth by a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere, although in the building industry, strains, pressures and tensions may make it difficult to find one. Intellectual activity is frequently ridiculed by those who lack respect for it and there are cases of executives who are so sensitive on this point that they go to great lengths to avoid being caught thinking.
~K Paul Building Organisation 2
A Trust Publication 1982
Technical Publications Trust
Propect Place Perth WA 6000
Trevor Rabey
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From my collection:

One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards)

"This project is so important, we can’t let things that are more important interfere with it." (Advertising/Marketing manager, UPService)

"Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule"

Stephen Devaux, in his book Total Project Control, quotes Dr PR Nayak:

“One area that technologically superior companies emphasize is the quality of their product planning. In most walks of life where planning is possible, people will tell you that good planning is absolutely crucial and necessary. However, almost no one does it. We have wondered why, and can only surmise that they don’t know how to, don’t have time, or can’t see the benefits.”

Dr FJ Bromilow (CSIRO)
“Late completion of building contracts is a source of inefficiency, financial loss, and intense irritation in the industry. The differences between expectation when the contracts were entered into on the one hand and the reality on the other are substantial and larger than commonly supposed. Of 329 contracts taken from a wide range of environments and building types, but not including housing, only one contract in eight was completed on or before the time originally expected and the overall average extra time exceeded 40 per cent.”

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, then starting on the first one.”

Seneca (ca 4BC - AD65) “Gladiator in arena consilium capit”The gladiator is formulating his plan in the arena (i.e., too late)
Anoon Iimos
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here’s mine: Plan to Act or Act to Plan? What is Planning without Acting?
Charleston-Joseph...
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To Mike:

Your quote:

"As built programmes are a record of the triumpb of time and circumstance over human endeavour"

Where is planning here??

I do respect your orientation as claim analyst. You do need the as built programme for without as built programme, it will be a lot of hell to do your work.

Cheers,
Happy Planning and Scheduling
Charleston-Joseph...
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Dear Carmen,

I also like your planning philosophy:

"Planning is a team exercise where I hear and get involved with each one of the participants. I get involved with each work process that I need to plan. I take the opportunity to optimize work process with the help of the responsible of the work. At doing this, you need leadership to attract people to the act of planning."

I remember a newbei in planning: Punch, punch and punch the keyboard of the computer. That is planning to him.

Cheers,
Happy Planning and Scheduling
Charleston-Joseph...
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Dear Carmen,

My quote comes deep in my heart. It is a day to day experience.

So someday if I will become great men in the like of Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln maybe someone will also quote my planning philosophy.

On the other hand, they use my quote by acknowledging not me because I’m not yet a member of immortal great men, they can say: anonymous.

Cheers,
Happy Planning and Scheduling
Mike Testro
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Hi Carmen

Brilliant thread - Here is one of mine.

"As built programmes are a record of the triumpb of time and circumstance over human endeavour"

Best regards

Mike Testro
Carmen Arape
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Dear Sensei,

Your personal quote “Planning is drawing”. Is it your drawing or the drawing of the TEAM.

Is it your personal drawing without brainstorming with the team??.

IF It is so, that’s why you conclude “planning is a dream”.

My approach is complete different.

Planning is a team exercise where I hear and get involved with each one of the participants. I get involved with each work process that I need to plan. I take the opportunity to optimize work process with the help of the responsible of the work. At doing this, you need leadership to attract people to the act of planning.

Mi favourites two quotes:

It’s not the plan that’s important, it’s the planning.
- Dr. Gramme Edwards

Plans are worthless. Planning is essential.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, general and president (1890-1961)

I want to believe Mr. Edwards and Mr. Eisenhower were thinking in planning as I have described above.

Cheers,
Charleston-Joseph...
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the beauty of planning is in achieving what was plan

less than achieving the plan,

the planning is only a dream.

Wake up!!!!!

Again from the Maestro, the Sensei.

cheers
Happy Planning and Scheduling
James Bridges
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“Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be. They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass. There are few people, however, who, if you told them the result , would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backward, or analytically.” – Sherlock Holmes
Charleston-Joseph...
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Hello Carmen,

Quote by the Maestro, the Sensei:

"Planning is drawing"

It is a mental picture of what you wanted to achieve, a road map, a drawing. IMHO.

In day to day activity, when I wake up, I’m doing planning: What I want to accomplish today? How it will fit in a bigger picture of my goal, career goal, personal goal?

So I created a drawing.

If nothing is accomplish, then the plan will remains a drawing.

But

If I did accomplish my goal, then I celebrated by treating myself with eating nice and delicious food. OF course, I thank my Beloved GOD for the grace HE has given me to accomplish my plan.

Then, the cycle of planning again for the next hours, days, week will revolve and revolve.

Cheers,
Happy Planning and Scheduling
Stephen Devaux
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Hi, Carmen.

Actually, I mean a few different things by "Deadlines lead to deadliness" (other than the parallel spelling).

1. I believe that deadlines, whether for a project or for an activity, enable Parkinson’s Law: "Work expands to fill the time available" (a fellow traveler of Goldratt’s "Student Syndrome" -- people put things off till the last minute).

2. It is extremely rare that a deadline is really a deadline, by which I mean that the project is worthless after a given date (and there is no advantage to finishing early). I believe that planned project completion dates should be established as "targets", with clear and quantified guidelines re the implications for project value/profit of being each calendar unit earlier or later.
Then the project team should use those quantified guidelines to maximize the project value for minimal cost, resulting in maximum project profit.

In fact, in my experience, most deadlines are established by a sponsor/customer out of thin air. Sometimes more time is allowed than the scope/resources necessitate; sometimes completion prior to the deadline is absolutely impossible; but almost never is the deadline (or budget!) based in any sort of reality, because the detailed planning that’s necessary has not yet been done when the deadline is established.

Finally, the project contract should reflect the quantified targets and values of the customer in such a way as to benefit both contractor and customer in a "win/win" outcome.

Fraternally in PM,

Steve D.
Carmen Arape
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Stephen,

I could not understand the following part of your personal quote:

“Deadlines lead to deadliness”

with the help of a dictionary, I understood the following:

The points in time by which sth must be done (deadlines) lead to take away effectiveness.

What do you mean with the statement.

Cheers,
Stephen Devaux
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"The reason we plan projects is because, after investing all that effort, we will have eliminated one of the infinite number of ways in which the project could go."

I don’t know if it is original with him, but the person I heard say it is Bill Duncan, author of the 1996 edition of the PMBOK Guide. I like it because, as with the Eisenhower quote below, it suggests (correctly!) that one of the main values of planning is that it will be of assistance in managing all the unforeseen events that WILL occur.


"Timeliness includes timelines, but deadlines lead to deadliness."

That one’s mine.

BTW, the Private Message function seems to be off. Does anyone know how I might contact PP Admin? Or Wiki Admin? Or can they contact me?

Fraternally in PM,

Steve D.
I like 5P Rule:

Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

Cheers
Anoon Iimos
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Hi Rafael,

Good Day to you! How’s Cotto now? Well, I supposed you will not blame me, I had given you the hint.

cheers!
Scarllet Pimpernel
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Planning is a knock out, for knock out artist and for the real knock out planner.

All you have to do is be patient.

Until the last round.

the 50 USD goes back to my pocket.

See you next time

Raffy boy.

Thank you,
Scarlett

Mike Testro
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Hi Darren

Its nothng to do with the size of the glass.

Its what you put in it that matters.

Best regards

Mike Testro
Rafael Davila
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Scarlet and Anoon,

Definitively you are good sport. Pacquiau won a clean fight and proved without any doubt he is the better fighter pound per pound, no need of a re-match the outcome will be the same.

Scarlet you never dared to raise the betting from 50-0 to 100-0 hope next time you will.

Do me a favor, watch the fight a couple of times again and enjoy.

Best regards,
Rafael
Anoon Iimos
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Hi Rafael,

I’m not interested with that fight, I didn’t watch actually, I’m busy (sleeping). The result is obvious before it gets started.

It’s like fighting a sweater-roundhead against your 45-day old (fried chicken), you know.

So please, let them stop raising issues like "Pacman" is on 500-year old PED, or is there something like that?

Regards
Scarllet Pimpernel
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But there is a lesson learned from this fight that a planner may be interested.

because in every situation it is always fighting. Even here in PP. And I love fighting. This is what real men are made for. And there are lots of different types of fighting: some could be low level intensity conflict, some could be de-stablization, office sabotage, office bullying, guerilla warfare, etc. This happen not only in the battlefield but also in office: office battlefield, in dealings with client representative, resolving contractual matters, etc.

What is obvious in this Pacquio - Clottey fight was the way Clottey put up too much defensive actions. These are for born losers. I always believe “the best defense is offense, because in offense I got the initiative and I can dictate the tempo.

At the end of the day, it is the well prepared and well trained fighter that will win.

This reality is the same in our day to day activities.


IMHO.

Thank you,
Scarlett
Darren Kosa
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To the optimist, the glass is half full.

To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.

To the project planner, someone, somewhere padded out their estimate and the glass is twice as big as it should have been.

Regards,

Darren
Shah. HB
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All projects are work but not all work is a project
Shah. HB
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Never put off until tomorrow what you can leave until the day after.