Strategic Planning at a Government Laboratory: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Technical Information Department's Experience with Planning

While acknowledging all the ways in which LLNL has failed to make optimal use of strategic planning tools, the authors believe that this planning process has helped their organization to disengage from the everyday "work harder" perspective and to refocus on the "work smarter" or "putting the ladder against the right wall" goal, insofar as they have been able to do. The authors maintain that however imperfect one's strategic planning process is, it is nevertheless the best way to focus management attention. When a plan is flawed, its existence enables others (whether employees, upper management, or interested reviewers) to criticize and thereby improve it. Each year's plan further serves as the foundation for a better plan the next time around, defined in whatever way makes sense to the management team.