I found this post interesting but ultimately a bit confusing. You claim that having a plan is very important, and point to people with plans, but I don’t see real arguments for why it’s good to have a plan, or a discussion of the upsides and downsides.
I wonder if you could clarify your view on some of these points?
I’ll clarify some more on upsides and downsides on the next post.
Here I intended to show the need by induction, that is, by showing many examples of people with plans who created interesting features of the movement, and let those who agree there is causation involved follow through. That is why the second section starts with a conditional “If”. Only if you accept the stories as good evidence for points 1 and 2 you’d be urged to make plans.
Seems that you’d prefer a proof by principles or by deduction, which you described as “real arguments”. I could indicate books about planning, but I feel that would betray my purpose. Showing examples and providing a template seem to me as real and easy as it gets. Most people are not motivated by abstract convoluted reasons, they are motivated by stories, only once they are motivated it makes sense on a gut level to plan.
I’m curious however about what sort of writing would entice you into making plans? Knowing what makes you tick I can try to cover more territory on the next post, since I don’t want to leave behind those whose motivational structure works like yours.
Sorry for the slow reply! I think the change to the name of the post is good.
I guess when giving stories about people with plans, I’d like to hear more about how the plans helped them. The main takeaway I had from your stories was “Geoff Anders’ plan helped him to persuade other people to work with him”. But I don’t get the impression that you’re claiming the main benefit of a plan is to be able to get others on board.
I also feel that planning is a question of degree. It’s obvious that some thought about the future is useful. It’s also obvious that you don’t want to spend 100% of your time planning minutae. So I kind of wanted to see discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of planning more, and claims about where the sweet spot was, and why people tend to get it wrong (if they do).
I found this post interesting but ultimately a bit confusing. You claim that having a plan is very important, and point to people with plans, but I don’t see real arguments for why it’s good to have a plan, or a discussion of the upsides and downsides.
I wonder if you could clarify your view on some of these points?
I’ll clarify some more on upsides and downsides on the next post.
Here I intended to show the need by induction, that is, by showing many examples of people with plans who created interesting features of the movement, and let those who agree there is causation involved follow through. That is why the second section starts with a conditional “If”. Only if you accept the stories as good evidence for points 1 and 2 you’d be urged to make plans.
Seems that you’d prefer a proof by principles or by deduction, which you described as “real arguments”. I could indicate books about planning, but I feel that would betray my purpose. Showing examples and providing a template seem to me as real and easy as it gets. Most people are not motivated by abstract convoluted reasons, they are motivated by stories, only once they are motivated it makes sense on a gut level to plan.
I’m curious however about what sort of writing would entice you into making plans? Knowing what makes you tick I can try to cover more territory on the next post, since I don’t want to leave behind those whose motivational structure works like yours.
Sorry for the slow reply! I think the change to the name of the post is good.
I guess when giving stories about people with plans, I’d like to hear more about how the plans helped them. The main takeaway I had from your stories was “Geoff Anders’ plan helped him to persuade other people to work with him”. But I don’t get the impression that you’re claiming the main benefit of a plan is to be able to get others on board.
I also feel that planning is a question of degree. It’s obvious that some thought about the future is useful. It’s also obvious that you don’t want to spend 100% of your time planning minutae. So I kind of wanted to see discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of planning more, and claims about where the sweet spot was, and why people tend to get it wrong (if they do).