Plastic plan

Success is rarely the product of the initial plan, but rather of ruthlessly exploiting any advantage, no matter how small, until it succeeds. You need plasticity to ruthlessly pursue success.

“try and write out a scheme or plan and you will only depart from it.”

—Henry Green, cited in Hart, Clive. “The Structure and Technique of Party Going.” The Yearbook of English Studies 01. 1971. 185-199.

plastic

adjective

1. at high temperatures the rocks become plastic: malleable, moldable, pliable, pliant, ductile, flexible, soft, workable, bendable; informal bendy. antonyms rigid.
2. the plastic minds of children: impressionable, malleable, receptive, pliable, pliant, flexible; compliant, tractable, biddable, persuadable, susceptible, manipulable. antonyms intractable.

The term ‘plastic’ also refers to neuroplasticity, or the plasticity of the brain.

Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior, environment and neural processes, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury.

Plans should have similar plasticity traits.

A plastic plan:

• favors change without exhorbitant costs (agile principle);
• copes with uncertainty and change;
• conceives strategies and tactics and developing plans of action to suit a given situation; so has a high situational awareness;

A plastic plan:

• exploits the ooda loop to react consistently faster than the competition and often succeeds at relatively small costs;
• accommodates the notion of ‘Plan A’, ‘Plan B’, ‘Plan X’…

See estimate.

Sources

• http://www.infoq.com/resource/minibooks/emag-agile-estimation/en/pdf/Agile-Project-Estimation-and-Planning-eMag.pdf