The cognitive processes of planning operationalize many of the metacognitive abilities necessary for transfer of knowledge. A telephone survey of 30 adults and Delphi methodology were used to explore the vocabulary and content of the mental representations of the nature and function of planning as perceived by experts in cognitive psychology (N=9), business (n=11), everyday life planning (lay people) (N=9), and teaching (N=10). The data confirm that there is a striking convergence, within and across the sampled populations, about what planning is used and the purposes for which it is used. Four excellent and precise definitions of planning achieved a solid consensus independently: 97% agreement on all components of the definition and their 145 descriptors, 89% on the function statements, and 95% for the 159 function descriptors. The results confirm that there is a strong commonality among groups of experts about the declarative and the conditional knowledge of planning. The findings suggest that the definitional difficulties within the domain literature may be artificially amplified and are not representative of more nonacademic, real-life practitioners of planning. Results also support the contention that planning may by underutilized as an umbrella vehicle through which to funnel the instruction in many of the other metacognitive skills. (Contains 5 tables and 64 references.) (Author/SLD)