… If a planner has never created a plan in which part of the plan failed, then they need help – they are either delusional or their plans are insignificant.

We took our four-year old grandson to play miniature golf. He swung at the ball, missed, and then brilliantly bent down (holding his golf club in his left hand) picked up the ball in his right hand, carried the ball to the hole, and carefully dropped it in the cup. Problem solved! …

The process of problem solving begins before we acknowledge the process. We have all heard the clever quip “Don’t think of an elephant”. When a planner is asked to make a public place … there is no blank slate …

A planner, skilled in one process, who uses it over and over, is often criticized as using “a hammer looking for nails”. Planning texts are replete with technical methods in search of problems.

You have to draw a line, usually near the start of the project and make it clear that some issues and options will remain confidential. Whether we like it or not, the public must be disengaged at the start of the planning process…