Because your boss likes to make a plan

Your boss likes to make a precise plan for the year.

Revenue and expenses are specified in a spreadsheet down to the last cent.

New products, new campaigns and new hires are laid out in a linked spreadsheet down to the exact date.

Your team spends hour after hour thrashing out the details, adding a few dollars here, taking away a few cents there, moving this hire forward a few months, pushing that launch back a few days.

Within a week or two of the publication of the plan, events conspire to make it obsolete.

You’ll have to scrap the old plan and start from scratch.

The problem, your boss declares, was in not taking a long enough view.

The problem, your boss declares, was in not delving deep enough into the details.

The new plan, your boss declares, will be for the next 3 years, or the next 5 years, or the next 7 years, and will be more precise.