I’ve reached a section in the book Getting Things Done which describes what natural planning is.  It takes us through five phases –

Defining purpose and principles Outcome visioning
Brainstorming
Organizing
Identifying next actions

This is great.  David illustrates why purpose and principles must come first and why this is a successful order by showing examples of how we already use this and when we don’t (and hire a consultant for instance) how we always need to come back to purpose and principles.

Purpose is the answer to any difficult decisions.  When purpose or principles are not defined, projects flounder.  Amazing.