Plans are for wussies

Several months ago, I posted some statements I heard from "professionals" regarding testing, standards, and code review. Since then, I've heard several more gems and here are a few on planning that I thought worth noting.

These statements are from the same person on the same day pertaining to the same project:

"We have a plan. The problem is not a lack of plan. The problem is our communication."

"We don't need a written plan for this (release of a new product). We are experienced professionals and we know what to do. Writing out a plan is to make other people happy; people who don't have to do the work and don't know how to do it."

"You can't plan for something like this. Things come up and you just take care of them."

So let me see if I got this one right.... You have a plan for the thing that can't be planned, but since you are professionals you don't need to communicate the plan for the thing that can't be planned because only ignorant observers need plans? Is that it?

Let me share with you some common challenges within this environment:

1. Team members have differing expectations of what is to be done, by whom, and when
2. Team members have no idea what other people on their team are working on
3. Almost all projects are late due to unforeseen circumstances such as the code that was written won't run in the target environment (actually happened)
4. Projects get delayed because other departments are "uncooperative "
• Other departments don't know what is going on
• Other departments want justification for the tasks they are told to do
• Other departments require more heads up on simple tasks like configuring a VLAN and building all the servers to the unwritten specification that is needed immediately
• Other departments won't violate security standards or other documented practices in order to "get it done"
5. Once a project "feels" like it is about half-way complete, it is "almost done". Sometimes projects are "almost done" two or three times as long as any other project phase.
6. Completed work sits on the stage server for months or even years because nobody tests it and certifies it to go to live.

Final note - lack of planning != Agile