“Cho Joong-hee’s Guide to Planning”

Planning something isn’t an easy task. Perhaps for many ordinary people, the thought may arise that they might live their entire lives without ever properly “planning” anything. This book appears to be written relatively lightly by a planner named Joh Joong-hee.

Introducing himself as someone who wants to create something needed in the world, Joh Joong-hee was reportedly a practitioner in the field while pursuing a UX Ph.D. program at Yonsei University when the book was published. He’s also a travel writer who authored “7 Days in Spain,” “Whispering Laos,” and “Let’s Go to Tasty Spain.” This book explores how travel can serve as a seed for planning and includes the process of problem-solving.

“What is Planning?”

This book, neither in thickness nor in title, delves heavily or thoroughly into the subject of “planning.” Rather, it can be said to be a book that can be read with a light heart. If you want to know more about what “planning” is, it might be better to refer to the book “What is Planning?” by Gil Young-ro. That book elaborates on the concept of planning, detailing the directions, content, and core of “problem-solving planning” and “hypothesis-validation planning,” which might be more helpful if you need to write a “plan” immediately.

“The Planner’s Journey: What Makes It Different and Special?”

This book is divided into four main chapters. In chapters 1 and 2, the planner’s journey is discussed. It covers what points to focus on when planning a trip, how to gather and organize travel information, and how inspiration leads to planning.

The third chapter introduces places the author personally remembers from his travels. Rather than simply touring regions, the author recalls places where planners can participate and experience something “directly.”

The final chapter, titled “The Planner’s Attitude,” briefly concludes the discussion on “planning.”

“The Planner’s Journey”

As the author mentions in the book, after reading other books, he doesn’t write separate book reviews or essays. However, he emphasizes the importance of the “table of contents.” By looking at the table of contents, you can anticipate the main contents of the book, making it easier to recall after reading.

Likewise, this book’s table of contents is neatly organized, and just by looking at it, you can predict to some extent what content will be covered in detail. In that sense, let’s summarize the table of contents as follows:

The Planner’s Travel Guide
- Gather Travel Information Maximally
- Start Anything Anyway
- Conditions for Meaningful Travel
- Creating the Best Frame
- Plunging into the Experience
- Preserve Recorded Moments
- Maintain the Sense of Inquiry
The Planner’s Habits
- Planning Starts with a Mindset of Elevation
- Know at Least a Minimum of Foreign Languages
- Examine Information Containing Perspectives
- Read Trends from Data
- Approach Desires Through Conversation
- Discard and Classify Materials Occasionally
- Collect Desires via SNS
The Planner’s Perspective
- Altair Bookstore: Curating Tastes
- Christiania: The Territory of Free Spirits
- Baharak: Quiet and Peaceful Small Town
- Lisbon’s Alleyways: Where Art is Everyday
- Cologne’s Museums: Exhibiting Experiences
- Nuremberg: Abundant Handmade Products
- Raval District: From Crime Area to Art Street
- From Bullring to Cultural Center
- Discovering the Future of Mobility During European Travel
The Planner’s Attitude
- Delve Deep into Keywords
- Always Leave Outputs
- Move Forward Despite Any Criticism
- Drop It When There’s No Enthusiasm
- Aim for the Right Timing
- Pursue Value Over Gain
- Consider the Target for Persuasion
- Planning is for Execution

“Good Planning Is Fine, But It’s Meaningless Without Execution”

As mentioned in the book, while “planning” is important, ultimately, if not executed, planning is meaningless. The book also emphasizes the importance of execution. Furthermore, it suggests that it’s essential to polish and organize as much information acquired during travel as possible. While photos, videos, and recordings are crucial data sources, properly refining them into usable information for the future is equally important.

Moreover, the author claims to collect every receipt during his travels, suggesting even such receipts can become valuable data.

“Collecting Information Bit by Bit Before Traveling”

Moreover, it is said that one should consistently collect travel information from various sources before embarking on a trip. I had been collecting travel information through various media such as broadcast videos, blogs, Instagram, etc., and organizing them so that I could utilize them whenever necessary.

Although I don’t travel frequently myself, I have been gradually acquiring and organizing travel information for the time when I do travel in the future. As I am active in the field as a planner, I thought it would be more systematic to acquire and store information in this way.

“Information that Helps Read Trends”

It is said that asking questions during travel is also important. To facilitate such questions, it is necessary to grasp trends, and below are some methods introduced to obtain information that helps read trends:

Consulting Company + Keyword Search: By searching for keywords on blogs operated by consulting companies, you can find high-quality articles analyzed by experts in various fields.
Securities Firm Reports Search: Securities firms’ quarterly presentation materials also help quickly grasp trends. These reports contain necessary information in about 10 pages, and you can also find summaries of reports in 1-2 pages, which are provided free of charge.
Search for Major Exhibitions and Academic Conferences Information

“List of Major Consulting Companies”

Bain & Company
Boston Consulting Group
McKinsey & Company

“Major Exhibitions & Academic Conferences”

CES (Consumer Electronics Show) – International electronics exhibition
MWC (Mobile World Congress) – World’s largest mobile communication exhibition
IFA (Internationable Funkausstellung) – Berlin International Consumer Electronics Fair

“Websites That Help with Data Analysis”

The book also introduces websites that help analyze collected data. The author uses “Python” for data collection. To use Python, a certain level of coding knowledge is required, and you can acquire relevant knowledge through the following websites:

Codecademy: www.codecademy.com – A good site for self-study coding
Google Python Class: https://developers.google.com/edu/python – Provides lectures similar to actual classes, linked with YouTube, making it easy to grasp basic concepts.
Python Data Analysis Techniques 100 – Book
Word Clouds www.wordclouds.com – A site that extracts key words from collected data and visualizes them as word clouds. (If you upload a PDF file, it automatically extracts key words and draws a word cloud in the desired shape.)

“Overall Planning Process”

In Chapter 4 of the book, the overall planning process is also introduced as follows. Understanding the basic concepts of planning would be helpful:

The process of planning and creating something generally involves planning, research, concept derivation, execution, prototype development, and validation.

Planning: This stage defines the purpose of the project and the questions to be answered. It’s a stage where you think about why you should carry out the project and what problems you need to solve.
Research: Once the purpose and direction are defined, move on to the research stage. It’s necessary to look at the external environment and conduct thorough internal data research. In-depth interviews with the target users and monitoring their behavior are also conducted. Additionally, you consider what you can do now and what you can effectively pursue. You also think about and find ways to maximize your strengths.
Concept Derivation: Based on a thorough understanding of the target users, various ideas are derived. In this stage, the goal is to propose over 100 ideas for each service. Then, similar ideas are grouped together and linked with other groups to develop or deepen them. Concepts derived are prioritized through voting by people unfamiliar with them or through expert interviews.
Execution: After creating the concept, visualize it. Design the service to resemble the actual service to test it. Show people what the service will look like for commercialization and test the service to see the reactions. Collecting feedback from various people and quickly reflecting and improving it is important at this stage.

The planning stage may become simpler or more complex depending on the planning target, processing period, and the inclinations of the members involved. There is no set formula for creating something, nor is it necessary to strictly follow the above stages. I shared a general framework, and it’s important to find an efficient way to plan according to the target audience and current situation.

“How to Write a Good Plan”

The book also introduces tips on how to write a good plan, and the content is as follows:

Copying Well-Written Plans: Secure one or two well-written samples and quickly familiarize yourself with them by following along. You may not understand all the content, but you can at least grasp the key words necessary for composing the plan. This method is commonly used when writing. When trying to write well, writing becomes burdensome. In such cases, transcribe the books of admired authors or favorite travelogues. Through transcription, you concentrate on each word and gradually absorb the information visually. By repeatedly transcribing, you’ll eventually notice a natural improvement in your skills. There are various places where you can find well-written plans or documents. If there is a shared folder within the company, you can find easy-to-understand samples among the shared documents. Everyone has different criteria for what constitutes a well-written plan, but any document that is easy for anyone to understand is suitable. Treat that document as your teacher and transcribe it onto blank paper.
Rewriting Documents of People You Want to Resemble: If there is someone you want to resemble, collect and transcribe all the documents written by that person. This can be very helpful. When I was unsure about how to write a plan, I remember trying to transcribe the plans of those who gave me a lot of guidance. If there are no reference plans within the company, search Google for startup pitching documents. Searching for brand names and pitch decks of companies you are interested in will show you how they persuaded investors and planned services. Rather than finding a lot of materials, it’s more effective to stick to one or two materials that you like and think about how you would modify them.

“How to Make an Appealing Plan”

When encountering plans, some plans make you want to stop reading immediately, while others are easily understood. Even if it’s the same travel story, some people make the listener yawn while others make them interested. How can I convey my story more attractively?

Properly Arrange Tables and Images: It’s difficult to understand what is being emphasized in a plan filled only with text. It’s hard to discern the key points without reading and thinking about the content for a long time. When you’re in a state of reduced concentration and see a plan filled with just text, you’ll dislike reading it. By placing tables and images that support the content, a rhythm is created in the plan. The parts that need attention stand out, naturally drawing readers’ attention to the plan.
Provide Sufficient Background Explanation: Saying “I ate Espinacas con Garbanzos in Seville” immediately makes the listener yawn. The moment unfriendly words are used, you are ignored by the other person. Kind background explanations are the shortcut to aligning with others’ viewpoints. Instead of using the place name Seville, start with the advertisement where Kim Tae-hee danced in a red dress, then move on to bullfighting, oranges, etc., presenting a hot, intense, and vivid city. Tell about its history of long-standing Islamic rule and how there are many dishes of Islamic origin. Then, mention that you occasionally ate a dish made with chickpeas and spinach. Only kind background explanations are the shortcut to aligning with others’ viewpoints.
Show Interesting Content First: Showing the key scenarios first helps exert concentration. Rather than explaining each feature of a scenario one by one, it’s better to show a few key scenarios from the beginning and then delve into the overall conclusion. Human attention spans are shorter than you think, so presenting the most interesting topics first when concentration is highest is much more effective in conveying the message.

Starting from the relatively light topic of “travel,” the book introduces how a planner prepares for travel, memorable places during travel, and ends with content about “planning.”

As mentioned earlier, if you want a book that delves deeply into the topic of “planning,” this book may not satisfy your content needs. However, if you want to know how a “planner” gains inspiration through travel and how they utilize it, this book is a good read.

Also, since the book is not very thick and the content is not very difficult, it is close to being a light read. However, towards the latter part of the book, brief but useful content about “planning” and “planning documents” is included, so it would be helpful to refer to the content.

“The Planner’s Way of Traveling”