Why Your Business Plan Just Killed Innovation

"But what do you think? Do you agree that business plans and risk assessments can stifle innovation?"

No, I don't agree. I agree that badly thought-out business plans and risk assessments stifle innovation. I've worked in environments where a lack of planning killed innovation because the leadership team failed to keep track of changing technologies that required a departure from business as usual.

There's nothing inherent in planning or risk assessments that kill innovation. Anyone who has extensive planning experience (and is actually good at) will tell you that the purpose of a business plan is not to perfectly predict the future, but rather to create a compelling vision of where an organization is heading and how and why it's possible to get there. Without planning, confusion and misunderstanding can set in, leading to organizational chaos.

Formal planning is often not needed in smaller teams (e.g. most startups) simply because the team is small enough and close enough that nothing really needs to be written down, but a close-nit team still has a definite plan - even if it does exist in the sort of "mind meld" that exists among members. But even if it isn't written down - a plan is still there.

Indeed in the amazon case: (http://paulbromford.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/why-your-busine...) - they have quite a bit upfront planning. The construction of press releases, FAQs, user manuals(!), etc. are an example of excellent long term planning. Once buy-in is achieved, the small team then goes into action figuring out how to make it happen.