I've been busy with several projects, including my daily blog, Animal Person, which unfortunately takes precedence. But I'm back on track and there's an issue important to two jobs I'm currently working on: a documentary and a book. The issue is that an outline can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
In documentary filmmaking and nonfiction book writing, you can begin working with what you want to say. Perhaps you already know what your topic and your thesis is. The outline process, then, is about listing evidence/research/details/statistics that explain your topic and support your thesis. Your work, then, is about finding that evidence and then writing it (or filming it) and editing it. And you end where you began: with your thesis that you've just proven or illustrated.
The problem with the outline is that, depending on who's using it, there might be a propensity to stick to the outline and thereby prevent other interesting information or angles from emerging, as the priority is sticking to the outline. This can easily result in a great product, but it can also result in a product that could have had more depth or character or complexity. It could have been far more intriguing.
There's an uncertainty and often an anxiety of flying without a net when you toss your outline completely or at least veer from it. But that's usually when things are beginning to get really interesting.
I won't say that disregarding your outline is something everyone can do and then create a different, better project in the end. But I do think it's something everyone should try, because the more you do it, the better you get at coping with the feelings of insecurity (and often terror) that accompany letting your story tell itself and not imposing yourself on it so much by directing its every twist and turn.
Please note that letting your story emerge always takes longer than deciding what your story is in advance (in my experience). And if you're hiring people to help you, it costs more if you're putting the decision making into the hands of editors (as then their job is technically development, as well). But it usually results in a richer end product, and that makes the uncertainty, the headaches and the extra expense worthwhile.
