Dutch lesson 1: voordenken, niet nadenken

Some 18 years ago I encountered my first mentor. He had a wonderful credo which always came in focus during the many IT-projects I was fortunate to be involved in (Jos de Hey was a consultant on IT - Logistics - Systems brought in by the Director of Finance - a great man on its own - to update and improve the ailing existing IT software and practise).

But in order to relate this remarkable remark some Dutch lessons are needed, verbatim translation in English just won't do it the justice it deserves.

The Dutch word for thinking is denken, but mostly it is accompanied with na as in nadenken (English would be: thinking about it).
But..... na also means: after as in after diner (na het eten), after school clubs (naschoolse activiteiten).

Or as in: if we had only thought about the impact, consequences before the implementation of this, or in other words: we should have 'thought ahead' (in order to save time, effort, resources etc).

And 'before' in Dutch is voor, hence Jos' credo: Voordenken, not nadenken

So, Joseph, where ever you are now, your credo is still on the forefront during many decision we make and it's a worthwhile 'system' to have.
About time I thanked you for that.