matabele comments on Rationality Quotes July 2012 - Less Wrong

3 Post author: RobertLumley 04 July 2012 12:29AM

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Comment author: matabele 23 July 2012 02:51:18PM *  0 points [-]

Comment author: Vaniver 23 July 2012 03:15:37PM 2 points [-]

No, I am sorry, this aphorism may only be defended in those instances where poor planning results in a situatiion where insufficient time is available for any planning, and events now dictate action. In which case, what right does the 'good plan' have to be called a plan?

Consider Eisenhower:

In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.

Other humans must be interacted with in real-time. Consider a non-military analogy: a good comeback confidently issued now is better than a perfect comeback issued next week.

It also works for computing. Consider languages which have a REPL to those that don't: for many applications, good code executed now is better than perfect code executed next week. This is often because requirements change over time, and the future cannot be predicted- the customers won't know what module they want next until they've used the current module.

Comment author: TheOtherDave 23 July 2012 03:37:18PM 2 points [-]

A fellow director is fond of saying, as she puts together rehearsal plans for the show she's about to direct, that while 95% of what she ends up doing in rehearsal is pulled out of her ass rather than planned, rehearsal plans are nevertheless an indispensable part of preparing her ass for rehearsals.