We will figure it out as we go is the most expensive sentence in project work. It sounds flexible and confident. What it actually means is that every decision gets made later, under pressure, at the worst possible price.
We will figure it out as we go is a decision to buy planning later instead of now. Later, planning comes bundled with rework, rush fees, and apologies. It is the same planning, at roughly triple the cost.
Why does this sentence feel so reasonable?
Because planning feels like delay, and starting feels like progress. Nobody wants to be the person slowing things down with questions while everyone else is eager to build.
There is also a genuine fear underneath: that planning means committing to guesses. But planning is not predicting the future. It is agreeing on how you will handle the future when it arrives. That is a very different thing, and it takes an afternoon, not a month.
What does figuring it out actually cost?
It costs rework, which is the most expensive kind of work. Every decision made late invalidates work already done, and redoing finished work costs more than doing it right once.
Put numbers on it and the room goes quiet. A direction change in week two costs a conversation. The same change in week eight costs a rebuild. I have watched this sentence turn tidy budgets into cautionary tales, the mechanics of which I covered in why creative projects go over budget.
What is the difference between planning and over planning?
Planning answers the questions that are expensive to answer late: what are we making, who decides, what does done look like. Over planning answers questions nobody will ever ask.
The test is simple. If a question, left unanswered, could force rework later, answer it now. If not, leave it. Most projects need about a day of real planning per month of work. Anything beyond that is usually procrastination wearing a sensible suit.
Is this not just waterfall with a new name?
No. Waterfall tries to decide everything up front. Just enough planning decides the expensive things up front and deliberately leaves the rest open.
The difference matters. Waterfall breaks when reality changes, because the plan is brittle. Light planning bends, because it only fixed what needed fixing. Figuring it out as you go is not the opposite of waterfall. It is waterfall's equally rigid twin: both refuse to think at the right time.
How much planning is just enough?
Just enough planning fits on one page: the goal, the audience, the decider, the date, and the three biggest risks. If you cannot fill one page, you are not ready to start.
That page becomes the project's immune system. When someone suggests a detour, you check it against the page. When the brief wobbles, the page steadies it. This is the core discipline of what is brand delivery: enough structure to move fast, not so much that you cannot move.
Working with Avy
Week one of my engagements is almost entirely this: the one page, the hard questions, the agreements that make everything after it cheaper. Clients sometimes worry we are moving slowly. Then week six arrives and they understand.
If your projects keep paying the figure it out tax, let us do the cheap version first. Book a call and we will spend an hour on the questions your next project cannot afford to skip.
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