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Planning Analysis (Planalysis) is a textbook with methods for analyzing plans: particularly objectives, goals and requirements. The main problem is, as I am sure you know already, a high degree of ambiguity, and a lack of actionable clarity.

The objectives are usually the famous management BS. The secondary problem is that the goal statements often contain a suggested, and vague, 'means' (do M to get G). This is a destructive practice. We need to keep the objectives separate, initially, until they are clear and agreed. Then we can let the architects and strategic planners loose, on an intelligible and validated problem (meeting the clear agreed objectives.).

The Planalysis methods make use of my 'Planguage' (Planning Language) and our first step towards serious improvement is to quantify all variables, meaning all values, all qualities, all things that can be made 'better' to a degree. Our quantification method, defining and exploiting Scales of measure is invented by me, as a practical tool, for decades. I wish every serious planner did something similar, but they are not taught such methods: at best they do poorly-defined quantification, at worst they do none.

As one example of a smart company who understands this, Intel has used my Planguage methods for over 20 years, for over 20,000 trained engineers, as the primary language to describe their competitive products. They are still doing good business. So, obviously my methods last, scale, and succeed. They are not a fad. Intel published cases show amazing degrees of improvement of clarity, partly due to a better specification structure of Planguage (about 10x fewer unclear things), and then partly (50X more) to rigorous QC using my Spec QC method (See References, Competitive Engineering).

Planalysis focusses on the analytical side (what's wrong) and uses real examples as a basis. The full picture of positive action to remedy the problems is treated in more depth in my other books and papers like 'Quanteer' (LEANPUB.COM/Quanteer) and others in the Planalysis references.

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