Schrödinger meets von Moltke

Remember him?

Thought so ;-)

I have had an epiphany the other day.

I was talking about project management methodologies with a colleague, and he jokingly referred to quantum theory, saying something to the effect that the amount of effort put to analyse a new project before it is even formally started is by no way an ndicator of its future success. I replied something like "von Moltke uncertainty principle" and we both had a laugh and that was the end of it. 

But still, this conversation was running in crcles in the back of my mind, like a song you hear early in the morning and that you cannot get out of your mind for the rest of the day.

It took some time to percolate.

I plan. I love planning. I build intricate plans, try to take each and every parameters into account, have backup plans, alternate routes, different sets of objectives, redudant reources pre-allocation, min/max cases, critical paths by enveloppe and super critical ones. I take pride and derive a lot of self-esteem from that work. In effect, planning becomes more satisfying than doing. Which would be bad if I wasn't actually accomplishing something factual from time to time, but still feels wrong when I look at the time I have spent planning for things that I haven't done.

So, von Moltke emphasises the fact that even though a plan cannot be perfect, that, at some point, you will have to improvise to some extent. But, ultimately, all of this planning is worthless when it is not being put to use. Your plan is there, but what will it lead you into? You have to actually open the box and take a look at the cat.

And you open the door and you step inside...

Well, all of this I knew already. I hadn't really thought it out fully, but I knew of the implications. What I hadn't realised was that my love for planning had slowly encroached on most aspects of my life. And that because I am feeling the need to have "backup plans", I have developped an unhealthy tendancy to keep my options open. There is nothing inherently wrong with keeping one's options open. However, when you never exercise one of them, it is worrying. I feel like I have spent most of my time identifying doors, looking through their keyholes, but rarely opening them and actualy stepping inside. Paradoxically, even though these options provide me with a wide range of alternatives allowing me to safely choose the course I want, I just felt my world feeling with uncertainties.  

I will have to take action on that. But right now, I do not know where to start or what to do.