Boy Scout Troop 325 Scoutmaster Minute

Planning

November 4, 2008
Andy Duprey, Scoutmaster

• Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" -John Lennon
• "Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part" -Proverb
• "He who fails to plan, plans to fail" Proverb quotes
• "Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now" -Alan Lakein
• "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow" -Proverb
• "Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning" Winston Churchill quotes
• "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." -A. A. Milne quotes
• "When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people." Chinese Proverb
• "It pays to plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."
• "Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans".-Peter F. Drucker

Why do you think there are so many quotations about planning? Probably because people have been hit over the head by their own failures to plan. Learn from their mistakes.

We just finished our plan for the upcoming month's troop and patrol activities. Hopefully, we planned well. Scouting is a boy planned and led program. The adults are here to supervise. Boy scouts is not about how well Mr. Bangle, Mr. Schwoob or I can plan and implement a troop meeting, but about how well each of you can plan a meeting, or an outing and pull it off.

There is a proverb: "Each hour spent planning is worth two hours saved during implementation." For example, if I hire a crew of workers to paint my house, and don't plan with them to have supplies and equipment ready, then nothing gets done, but I waste a lot of money. Another example, if we plan to do knots and lashings for a troop meeting, and no one communicates that to the family that stores the ropes and staves, then the program fails.

A recent BBC headline stated "Local authorities under fire for failure to plan properly for Gypsies and Travellers". The gist of the story is that many cities in Great Britain have failed to plan camping space for large groups of itinerant workers, known there as "Travellers", who go through the country seasonally, and now they have big problems with people camping on private property.

So what are the steps to proper planning? You demonstrated some tonight

1. Brainstorming
2. Voting-deciding what fits where in the plan
3. Deciding who will do what by when

Next week you will:

1. Work you plan
2. Debrief your plan as a group

There are many little sayings that remind us about planning..

• "Failing to plan is planning to fail"
• "Plan your work...work you plan"
• and the all time favorite... "Prior planning prevents poor performance."

Thank you and good night scouts.