planning

planning
    n 1: an act of formulating a program for a definite course of
         action; "the planning was more fun than the trip itself"
    2: the act or process of drawing up plans or layouts for some
       project or enterprise
    3: the cognitive process of thinking about what you will do in
       the event of something happening; "his planning for
       retirement was hindered by several uncertainties" [syn:
       {planning}, {preparation}, {provision}]
    

Plan \Plan\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Planned}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Planning}.]
   1. To form a delineation of; to draught; to represent, as by
      a diagram.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To scheme; to devise; to contrive; to form in design; as,
      to plan the conquest of a country.
      [1913 Webster]

            Even in penance, planning sins anew.  --Goldsmith.
      [1913 Webster]
    

110 Moby Thesaurus words for "planning":
      adjustment, approach, arrangement, attack, basic training,
      blueprint, blueprinting, briefing, calculation, charting,
      clearing the decks, codification, conception, contrivance,
      coordination, design, device, disposition, enterprise,
      envisagement, equipment, familiarization, figuring, fixing,
      foresight, forethought, foundation, frame-up, game, graphing,
      ground plan, groundwork, guidelines, harmonization, idea,
      intention, layout, lineup, long-range plan, makeready,
      making ready, manufacture, mapping, master plan, method,
      methodization, methodology, mobilization, normalization,
      operations research, ordination, organization, packed deal,
      packed jury, plan, planning function, plotting, prearrangement,
      preconcertedness, preliminaries, preliminary, preliminary act,
      preliminary step, premeditation, preordering, prep, preparation,
      preparatory study, preparing, prepping, prerequisite, pretreatment,
      procedure, processing, program, program of action, propaedeutic,
      provision, put-up job, rationalization, readying, regularization,
      regulation, rigged jury, routinization, schedule, schema,
      schematism, schematization, scheme, scheme of arrangement,
      scheming, setup, spadework, stacked deck, strategic plan, strategy,
      system, systematization, tactical plan, tactics, the big picture,
      the picture, training, treatment, trial, tryout, warm-up, way,
      working plan