One really interesting historical example (or, perhaps, counter-example) was the Empire State Building. At least in Mary Poppendieck&#x27;s telling, it was completed on time, under budget, and with no plan in advance, at least not as we understand plans today:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;chrisgagne.com&#x2F;1255&#x2F;mary-poppendiecks-the-tyranny-of-the-plan&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;chrisgagne.com&#x2F;1255&#x2F;mary-poppendiecks-the-tyranny-of...</a><p>And there&#x27;s a better telling of it in her excellent book:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Leading-Lean-Software-Development-Results&#x2F;dp&#x2F;0321620704" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Leading-Lean-Software-Development-Resu...</a><p>This makes a ton of sense to me; the American culture around plans is thoroughly fucked.<p>In software, otherwise reasonable people expect me to give them numbers at the drop of a hat. When will this be done? What will it cost? What will our revenues be for the next 5 years? When I tell them I have no data for numbers like that, they will ask again, as if they thought I hadn&#x27;t quite heard the question.<p>When I make it clear that although I&#x27;m glad to do real estimates I won&#x27;t just make up numbers, they get <i>mad</i>. They <i>need</i> numbers! [No, they don&#x27;t. They want them, often for political reasons.] Other people have given them numbers! [I am not other people.] This is how everybody does it! [Thanks, I&#x27;ve seen the stats on how well that works.] I should just give some ballpark numbers! Nobody will take them seriously! [Except they always, always, always turn into real numbers.] It makes me crazy.<p>For years, I kept thinking that if I just explained it well, people would come around. But I&#x27;ve come to believe that the root problem here is a managerialist culture, where power matters more than expertise or professional responsibility. Managers want numbers, so managers get numbers. They don&#x27;t actually help, but managers get to feel in control. If it all happens to work, they&#x27;re brilliant managers. And if it doesn&#x27;t, the blame falls upon the people who gave them the numbers, or the people who failed to execute according to the always-impossible plan.<p>Now I just look for people and work cultures that are focused on actual results and are comfortable with bottom-up power structures.