Planning Is a Human Problem
Planning is how commanders employ people under uncertainty
Planning Is a Human Problem
Planning is how commanders employ people under uncertainty
The JPG lead steps to the podium, confident. The room is full. The DCG is there. The J5 is already flipping through his binder.
The JPG lead clicks open the file:
“Operation Midnight Screwdriver V.2.1.0 (Ver 2) (USE THIS ONE) (FINAL)”
Three slides in, the J5 frowns. The DCG leans back.
“Is this the current deck?”
A pause. A few frantic clicks. Another file appears:
“Operation Midnight Screwdriver V.2.1.0 (Ver 2) (USE THIS ONE) (FINAL – USE THIS ONE)”
Silence.
The JPG lead asks the knowledge manager which file is the most up to date while sorting by file size, assuming the largest must be the newest. No response.
The DCG closes his notebook. The J5 shakes his head. The guidance is brief and merciless: come back when you have the right slides. The next opening is in fifteen days.
Good luck.
Everyone in the room sighs and heads back to the dungeon.
This Is a Planning Series
The next several articles will focus on planning. Planning as an operational discipline that exists to help commanders make decisions in uncertain, fast moving, human environments.
Planning matters because it is how we translate intent into coordinated human action under pressure. When planning fails, it is rarely because a step was skipped or a format was wrong. It fails because the staff lost sight of why they were planning in the first place. Sometimes plans fail for reasons that were unknowable at the time. Sometimes they fail due to bad luck.
Planning Is Operational Work
Real planning is not neat and tidy. It is dynamic, ambiguous, and often uncomfortable. It deals with incomplete information, assumptions, competing objectives, and limited time. It is not bounded by a framework. Frameworks are tools, not substitutes for judgment.
Operational planning relies on professionals who trust each other enough to argue productively, challenge assumptions, and surface risk early. It requires real analysis grounded in evidence, not consensus building or slide quality. And it requires flexibility, because no plan survives contact with reality intact.
Practicing the process is not the same as practicing planning.
The Commander Is the Center
The commander is the central figure in planning. Full stop.
The staff does not own the plan. The staff exists to help the commander understand the problem, explore options, assess feasibility, and create decision space. Planning succeeds when it supports the commander’s vision or clearly explains why that vision cannot work given the environment and constraints.
Plans are expressions of intent under uncertainty. They attempt to impose coherence on a future that will inevitably resist it.
Why We Plan at All
We plan because warfare is a human endeavor.
Weapons, systems, and technology matter, but wars are fought by people operating under stress, fear, fatigue, and friction. Planning is how commanders employ people toward a purpose despite that reality.
Good planning builds shared understanding before chaos arrives. It clarifies roles, aligns expectations, exposes assumptions, and creates the conditions for adaptation when the plan breaks.
A good plan should help clear the battlefield of “fog” rather than contribute to the confusion for the commander.
What Comes Next
This series will examine where planning commonly breaks, why those failures persist, and how commanders and staffs can do better. It will focus on planning as it is actually practiced when outcomes matter.
No plan is perfect. But honest planning, focused on people and grounded in reality, gives commanders the best chance to adjust, adapt, and win.
It’s important to remember that no plan is perfect, but nothing else ages majors quite as fast!
Doctrine & Disorder — Planning Series