Planning

Planning according to established principles - most notably since the early-20th century[2] - forms a core part of many professional occupations, particularly in fields such as management and business.

[3][4] Planning has been modeled in terms of intentions: deciding what tasks one might wish to do; tenacity: continuing towards a goal in the face of difficulty and flexibility, adapting one's approach in response implementation.

[5]: 89 Planning is one of the executive functions of the brain, encompassing the neurological processes involved in the formulation, evaluation and selection of a sequence of thoughts and actions to achieve a desired goal.

Various studies utilizing a combination of neuropsychological, neuropharmacological and functional neuroimaging approaches have suggested there is a positive relationship between impaired planning ability and damage to the frontal lobe.

Disruption of the neural pathways, via various mechanisms such as traumatic brain injury, or the effects of neurodegenerative diseases between this area of the frontal cortex and the basal ganglia, specifically the striatum (corticostriatal pathway), may disrupt the processes required for normal planning function.

Test participants with damage to the right anterior, and left or right posterior areas of the frontal lobes, showed no impairment.

[14] Patrick Montana and Bruce Charnov outline a three-step result-oriented process for planning:[15] In organizations, planning can become a management process, concerned with defining goals for a future direction and determining on the missions and resources to achieve those targets.

The purpose may involve the achievement of certain goals or targets: efficient use of resources, reducing risk, expanding the organization and its assets, etc.

[16] A policy is crafted with a specific goal in mind in order to address a societal problem that has been prioritized by the government.

Planning is not just a professional activity: it is a feature of everyday life, whether for career advancement, organizing an event or even just getting through a busy day.

The striatum ; part of the basal ganglia ; neural pathways between the striatum and the frontal lobe have been implicated in planning function.
A version of the Tower of Hanoi utilizing four discs.
Animation of a four disc version of the Tower of Hanoi
Screenshot of the PEBL psychology software running the Tower of London test
Post-it Notes on a whiteboard , articulating a plan
Example of planning process framework