The first reading in the Course Content area of the classroom (Module 4: Environmental Analysis) began with the following quote:

If you wait until you have all of the information that you think you need in order to make a decision, the probability is that by the time you're ready to make that decision, the decision is no longer yours to make. Howard Brown, M.D.

Dr. Brown seems to suggest that by doing an extensive environmental scan, one risks the conundrum of "paralysis by over analysis." Alternatively, the readings this week suggest that the risk of NOT doing a thorough environmental scan is too great and could lead an organization to make major decisions that are based on incomplete or inaccurate data. So, it seems as if this type of analysis does have it's pros and cons.

Based on your professional experiences, are environmental scans necessary? If so, how much data are really needed? Please give concrete examples whenever possible.