Sat at my desk about to write a business plan and I am reminded of ‘that’ quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower, former leader of Allied forces in World War Two and United States president.
It goes something along the lines of: “Plans are useless but planning is indispensable.” The exact words he uttered are difficult to pin down as there are so many variations out there, but the gist is all pretty much the same.
It was a lightbulb moment for me when I first heard it. I’d always struggled with writing business plans, despite my background as a journalist. My attitude was, let’s just get on with it – get in action and build the business. I saw business plans as an admin task.
But Eisenhower’s quote encapsulates the true value in business planning. That is the value is not in the plan itself, but the process by which it is created. The research, the analysis, the discussion, the thinking that goes into a plan is where the real magic is.
The journey you take as you put your plan together is where you learn where your business’s opportunity is and how to reach it. The actual writing of the plan is just the bit you do at the end. By then much of the benefit has already been gained, though putting it all together in a document is a great way to cement the vital thinking and share with others.
Ironically for me it is rather like the process of writing an article. You see, the real work of a journalist is not the writing, it is the research and analysis. The best journalists spend most of their time on this and the writing is ‘just the bit you do at the end,’ as I remember one of my college lecturers imploring time and again.
It may be that you never look at your business plan again after you write it. Or you may stray off its predicted course completely. Neither matters. Because if the process by which you created the plan is good and thorough then you will have gleaned the kind of genuine insight that will help you ‘just get on and run the business’ and to respond to challenges with confidence.
A final note on business plan length. In my work as an advisor I see many business plans. Some are short. Some are long. Some are focused a full of perception. Some are vague and plodding. It seems some people feel that the longer their business plan is the better. But long does not equal good and short does not equal bad.
Ultimately, as Eisenhower implied, the value of the plan is in the process of creating it. So your business plan only needs to get across the key insights and strategy you’ve identified. By getting to that stage you have already gained most of the benefit of planning, so hey – keep it short.