NORTHERN PLANNER

You may have noticed I have an, above average, appreciation for tea. Proper tea, made in a warmed pot with decent tea bags.Tea doesn't get much more complex than that for me. I believe it tastes better in a china mug, I think you should put the milk in first and I sometimes like Earl Grey for a little frivolity.

That's it. You CAN have silverware, natty trays, ironic mugs…you can even serve it in a stately home. But if you haven't done what you SHOULD, you haven't got the basics right, no amount of embroidery can make up for substandard tea.

Just like a really good steak need not be smothered in sauce – if it's good quality and cooked well, it doesn't need it.In fact, it shouldn't have it.

Just as good pasta tastes great with nothing more than great olive oil, garlic and quality parmesan.

It's a bit like that with planning and ideas in general. If your thinking is good enough, if you've done what you should:

Where are we?

Where could we be?

How could we get there?

It doesn't need bells and whistles. It stands alone in a well crafted sentence or two.

Just as ANY creative idea, digital or not, should make folks excited with nothing more elaborate than a few sketches and a few, well crafted words.

Just any presentation should make no more than 5 well made points.

I bristled recently in a meeting when a very senior planning person told the group, 'Sorry for the planning language in this, it's more for people like me and Andrew, we'll create something simpler later".

I reacted strongly against being lumped with 'planning language' which really meant needless long words and jargon, very complex charts and slide after slide after slide. That's not planning, that's hiding the fact you haven't done any yet. That's managing to alienate everyone else by implying they're a bit thick, only big brained planners will get this.

Well I'm sorry, if you can't say it concisely, if you can't get folks excited in a few sentences, you haven't thought about it hard enough. And no amount of quotes from Wittgenstein or 'The Social Animal' will mask it.

Just as no amount of reference, wireframing, quotes from Forrester or Mashable, mood films or mac concepting can mask something that is all execution, or even technology and no idea.

We're really lucky that we live an age with lots of choice, over media, technology and making ideas come to life really quickly.

But what hasn't changed is that all that stuff builds on solid thinking and a great idea.

It doesn't make up for flaky thoughts and bad ideas.

Or not having either at all.