Plans are useless, but planning is everything

Agile is not opposed to planning.

One of the biggest misunderstandings about the Manifesto for Agile Software Development is the interpretation of “responding to change over following a plan”.

Some take this to mean that planning is unnecessary or even discouraged. But that’s not what “over” means. “Over” does not mean “instead of”. It means “we value both, but we value the one on the right more”.

Planning is essential. As Eisenhower put it: “Plans are useless, but planning is everything”. The real danger isn’t planning itself, it’s planning in a way that resists change. If we can’t adapt based on new information, we lose the battle before it even begins.

This is where large organizations struggle. Strategic planning is necessary, but how do we maintain agility at scale? The real challenge is designing systems that:

• enable long-term strategic thinking without rigid roadmaps;
• create feedback loops that drive action at every level;
• propagate new information effectively to allow course correction.

In my experience, agility in large organisations (and the XP practices that enable it) can only work if we reverse the traditional corporate approach:

• shift right decision-making power
• shift left quality feedback loops

Most companies do the opposite. They centralise decisions at the top while delaying feedback loops.

Real agility comes when teams closest to the work have the autonomy to act, while strategic direction remains adaptable to new insights.