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Responding to Change Over Following a Plan

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Plans are useful until reality arrives. Then adaptation beats sticking to the plan.

The Idea

From the Agile Manifesto. You can't predict what users will do, what competitors will ship, or what the market will want in a year. A plan's job is to start you moving and help you adjust — not to be executed unchanged.

Why It Matters

• Long roadmaps comfort executives and mislead teams.
• Changing course early costs less than changing course late.
• Teams that defend the plan over the user eventually lose both.

How to Apply

• Plan in short horizons. Commit for weeks, not quarters.
• Make it safe to say "this isn't working, let's change."
• Revisit the plan on evidence, not calendar.

The Nuance

"Respond to change" isn't a licence for thrash. Constant pivots exhaust teams. The point is that plans serve outcomes, not the other way round.

Related

• Build Measure Learn Repeat
• Principles Over Processes
• Shape Up

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