Email has become a popular substitute for voice mail. My coffee habit is being supplemented by my Java habit. Each morning, I check my email and stock quotes. I resist carrying around a portable Internet device outside my office for fear that I will turn into a plastic pencil poking Palm Pilot person. But many of them predicted the upward technology trends in the 1990's.
Forecasting is a powerful tool.
Forecasts help formulate today's decisions, anticipate future problems, measure execution and results, and assess future plans. Without forecasts, no one could anticipate storms on the high seas, food shortages in developing nations, or the future size of a particular consumer market. Almost everyone needs to do some forecasting or planning. In today's high tech world, things change so fast that, sometimes, when you finish a plan, it is already obsolete. During a project, the specification may change so many times, that the plan must be revised daily.