Lately, I have borne witness to a local phenomenon that I like to call, “General-Itis”.

This affliction, found mostly in start-up and early-stage businesses features a Modus Operandi wherein enough new sales revenue is generated to barely cover the next payroll/overhead costs.

Systems and planning are the first victims of General-Itis (hereinafter “GI”). Instead, the mindset of a GI-focused organization is “See the ball/Hit the ball.” And don’t worry about anything else.

General-Itis is typically the result of poor or little planning on the part of the “managers” (a term I’ll use lightly) of that business. “Hand-to-Mouth” is a term often used synonymously with GI.

Businesses typically suffering from GI include: home remodeling, software development, car repair, and lawn maintenance. But, and in reality, no human being is immune from this disease. Heck, I know many lawyers, doctors, and even scientists who just can’t seem to plan first and execute later.

And so do you, I’ll bet.

So, who are these guys? Well, I’m guessing that you are thinking right now, “Hey, they can’t be smart people, right?”

Think again.

I’ve worked with a software development group in the past that absolutely knocked me out with its sheer ability to pull bunny rabbits out of hats. These guys planned nothing and designed even less.

What they did was they sat down and banged out code that worked and worked smartly, regardless of the complexity of the application.

Then, they got paid for their work and it all started over again.

Sound like anyone you know?

If ever there was a business crying out for a niche play, it is THIS particular business. And yet, these types of businesses --- populated by these types of people --- are ubiquitous.

Why?

Well, in my opinion, the reason why we have so many “doers” and so few “planners” is because doing is fun while planning is work. Think about it. What pleasure do you get from thinking through a project? Especially when compared to actually building that project.

(Go ahead - open up that kitchen drawer right now. You know the one I’m referring to; it is stuffed full with user manuals that are still in the plastic!)

Because when you are building, you can actually see your progress. You can see the back porch being bolted onto the house. You can see the A/P Module interfacing to the General Ledger. You get to watch actual data move through the cable or phone lines, en route to its ultimate destination.

YOU did this. No one else. YOU. But planning this stuff? Yeech. No fun at all.

The Dark Side, however, is this … unless you design (e.g., plan), you have nothing to base your work upon. You sure as heck can’t bill, because you never defined your deliverables in the first place. Nor can you negotiate pricing for your work, since no one has any idea as to how much work we’re even talking about!

The good news is that, in time, this “ready, fire, aim” thing eventually goes away on its own. Frankly, it must. Generally, it goes away consequent with your first bankruptcy, or if you’re lucky, your first missed payroll.

But nothing can eliminate GI quite like a niche market. For niches force planning. And research. And staged execution.

Remember in the movie, “Terminator”, when Arnold Schwarzenegger says to the young boy, “It is in your nature to destroy yourselves.”?

Well, it’s the same thing. It is in our very nature to “build first, and then see what the hell we built later on.” It’s all part of the real problem --- instant gratification, in my humble opinion.

But stop some time and notice that the really successful people in life have found discipline. That is - they have found a way to plan before doing instead of the other way around.

Then, go and take a look at the many facets of your enterprise before asking yourself if your people are both planning and doing, or just doing.

You might be very surprised by what it is that you learn.