Don’t spend so much time asking whether you could, that you forget to ask if you should.

So many times I have been asked can I model this complex thing, can I model this constantly changing thing, can I ask for more detail.

Generally the answer is yes. With modern planning tools, you can model anything, automate anything, collect any level of detail.

But as is so often the case, it’s the wrong question. To paraphrase Dr Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, don’t spend so much time asking whether you could that you forget to ask if you should.

While the consequences are likely to result in fewer deaths than in Jurassic Park (unless you really bungle it), sometimes less is definitely more.

More detail, more models, usually comes with some sort of cost. Is it worth paying?

A simple one is asking for more detail. Maybe you decide you don’t want just marketing spend per channel per period, you want it per campaign. From a software perspective, easy.

But then someone has to spend the time to provide this detail. Is it worth it?

It might well actually be harder for them to be accurate, as they probably have no idea what campaigns they’re going to run at planning time. Will it actually give you better information?

Maybe, maybe not - so ask, yourself and/or the impacted teams.

An example where more detail is generally better all round, of course, is people planning; much easier to put in all the people than provide a salary amount each month off the top of your head, and more accurate.

Another example is where the business has some major revenue streams, and one or two smaller ones. Can we model every revenue stream? Of course, but it increases the cost of the project.

Does it add value to have the smaller ones fully modelled? Sometimes, absolutely! They are small because they are a new strategy that we have big hopes for - great, that’s a perfect reason to model in detail. But maybe they’re small as they are a legacy part of the business, and maybe we won’t really get anything by planning in detail.

Sometimes I ask and the answer is yes, yes, yes - brilliant. It’s just important not to sleepwalk into things that might not add any value.