Plan. Monitor. Replan.

During the last 6 days doing EOV, I don’t know how often we used the words “Okay, here is the new plan.” 50 times? 100? More?

The weather changed from burning heat to heavy rains back to heat.

We broke the soil sampler. Got it welded. Broke it again.

Our water infiltration ring also didn’t look the best in the end.

We got stuck on muddy roads and had to push or be pulled out. We waded more than once through wetlands.

The sheep escaped into a wheat field. The cattle tried.

And the dog ate our soil sample. For real.

Living systems are complex. Not just on the higher level, but in our everyday life experience. Making a plan and adjusting it whenever we monitor a change is not our “wrong planning”. It doesn’t mean we fail. Or that we “are a failure”. It is just life.

Does this make planning redundant or a waste?

When we plan and decide on how to monitor what really happens, it gives us the chance to move into the about-right-overall-direction. And to create feedback loops for adjusting when there’s unintended consequences. Resilience doesn’t just mean “bouncing back”. But also bouncing with, bouncing forward, bouncing outward.

After all, we definitely grew together as a team, laughed a lot, and built resilience – bouncing with, forward, and outward.

Although, I shook my head more than once when the dog ate our soil sample.

We learned from this feedback. And stored them somewhere else.