Why Supply Chain Planning upsets people

Supply chain planning, for all its sophistication, often infuriates people. It promises efficiency, yet it frustrates those it touches. Planning is about balance—predicting an uncertain future, managing constraints, and ensuring businesses deliver. But in doing so, it challenges assumptions, exposes inefficiencies, and forces difficult trade-offs. That’s why it upsets people.

It imposes structure on chaos, and people resist that. Sales teams want freedom to chase every deal, but planners slap on constraints—limited stock, production capacity and lead times. To them, planning feels like red tape, an obstacle rather than an enabler. Finance demands lean inventories while operations panic about running too thin. These clashes mean supply chain planning is often seen as a meddler, not a saviour.

Then there’s uncertainty. Forecasts are always wrong—how wrong is a key question. Planners spend hours refining numbers, yet others dismiss them as guesswork. The whole plan crumbles with one unexpected supplier delay, a sudden demand surge, or geopolitical upheaval. Frustration builds. What’s the point of planning if the world refuses to play by the rules?

Technology should help, but it can often alienate. Advanced planning systems promise optimisation but some can add complexity. Black-box algorithms spit out answers that clash with human instinct. Experienced professionals, who’ve spent years reading market signals, resist machine-led decision-making. They feel sidelined, reduced to data inputters while the system dictates. Trust erodes, and resentment grows!

The biggest battle? Culture. Supply chains cut across departments, yet most businesses remain siloed. Planning exposes misalignments, sparking defensive reactions. No one likes to see their inefficiencies laid bare. Leaders, too, can resist, fearing transparency will weaken their authority or highlight past missteps. The result? Passive-aggressive pushback, selective data sharing, and outright rejection of planning recommendations.

External pressures only add to the stress. Geopolitical shocks, climate change, erratic consumer behaviour—supply chain planners must juggle all of this while keeping costs down and service levels up. They live in firefighting mode (which some enjoy), never able to plan with confidence. And when things go wrong, they are the scapegoats. Supply chain planning can get the blame, even when the real failures lie elsewhere.

Yet, without planning, chaos reigns. Missed deliveries, bloated inventories, lost revenue—it all spirals. The solution isn’t to scrap planning but to rethink it. Planning must be collaborative, transparent, and flexible. It should empower, not alienate. Technology must support, not dictate. Most of all, planning must be recognised for what it is: not a quest for perfection, but a strategy for navigating uncertainty.

When done right, supply chain planning is a force for good. It aligns people, mitigates risk, and builds resilience. The tension will never disappear—trade-offs are inevitable. But the goal isn’t to eliminate friction. It’s to channel it productively. Done well, planning doesn’t frustrate—it empowers. And that’s when it stops upsetting people and starts driving success.