The builder waits until the architect's first sketch has become a plan.
In business it's like that, too.
When finally you know, from ANALYSIS, _what you want to accomplish_, it
is not difficult to plan the procedure if you start right and forget
nothing. You start right if you take time to figure out the primary
initiative. You forget nothing if you take the trouble to set things
down in black and white.
And finding the motive force and figuring out where to hit with it, is
nothing more nor less than charting the moves of the game until you find
a succession of activities moving along without back-tracking, without
duplication, without wasted effort or supervision.
Thus cultivating the KNACK OF PLANNING is a long step in the direction
of becoming a good manager. If you were going to try to tell someone
else how to cultivate the knack of planning, the story of the two men
shaving in the Pullman washroom serves to illustrate the point.
Both men seemed to be in a hurry. The first hustled over to one of the
wash basins, scrubbed his face and hands, dried them on a towel. Then he
began to shave. That finished, he washed the lather from his face, dried
himself again on another towel, and put away his razor. Next came his
teeth. He brushed them, washed away the traces of tooth paste, and dried
himself on a third towel.
All this time the other fellow was going through the same motions--but
in a much different order.
He began with his teeth. After he had brushed them, he lathered his
face. After he had shaved, a single wash was enough and a single towel
did the drying job. He had finished his canteloupe and was well along
with his eggs before his companion reached the diner. Number two didn't
do a better job of brushing his teeth, of shaving, of washing. But he
_did_ do a better job of PLANNING.
He started where each operation would lead directly and naturally into
the next, performing each at the proper time.
After all, isn't that precisely what you do in planning any part of your
business?