A planner walks into an Apple store...

It sounds like the start of a bad joke. But I was shopping in my local Apple store this morning. And as I picked up an paid for my new wireless keyboard / mouse, it struck me that there was a lesson I could take home with regards to good planning.

Apple stores are cleverly set up in a what that provides a basic structure, but allows the user to define the experience they have within that structure.

You walk into an Apple store, you know it sells computers, iPhones, iPods - and a select few peripherals. You might not be sure what you're looking for (ie., I went in the other week wanting to know more about audio editing software), just that you need some information from them. A person is at the front of the store, and will direct you where you want to go -- or if you feel that you need extra help, will guide a staff person over to assist you.

Then it's up to you, as the user, to decide what your experience is: do you want to buy something?; do you want to check your email at one of the many computers?; do you want to just play around with the latest gadget?.

There is no check-out counter giving you the feeling that you are there solely to purchase something. Instead, Apple wants you to experience their products - and they are confident that the experience you have will be all you need to convince you to buy that product.

Imagine translating this to the planning field. You create a basic planning framework that outlines the principles of planning and the information you need. And that's it. From there you let the users of the planning framework define the experience they want to have. They decide how they want to plan; and you're there to direct them, and provide a guide when they need it.

Most planning frameworks are prescriptive, creating templates and endless pages of instructions so that planners have an exhaustive list of information when all is said and done. And the users of the planning framework often just feel that they're "feeding the beast" because they're only planning for what they're told to plan, not necessarily what they want to plan.

Flipping a planning framework from a prescriptive process to a user-defined process would be an interesting challenge, but one that could certainly lead to great rewards: user buy-in; a more reflective product; and an efficiency from planners who can then shift more focus to analysis.