One of the characteristics of David is that he was a prudent man.
Being prudent is about applying discretion, thinking about the future outcome of a project/program. It talks about having good judgment of what the outcome of an action will be. Of course, wisdom is better than strategy (Proverbs 4:5-9). King Saul might have given strategy (strategy = a plan designed to achieve an overall aim) to David based on his military experience but David applied wisdom which might have been different from the strategy that was given to him to carry out the task before him.
Wisdom makes a man to gain the esteem and affection of his boss and other people (1 Samuel 18:5).
Application: Assuming that you were given an assignment to carry out with an already designed plan (known as strategy) but during the execution of the task, you found out that all the designed plans failed, the solution is not to run back to the person who gave you the assignment but to use your discretion to come up with a workable plan that would yield the desired positive, outstanding outcome.
If you are a nurse, the standard of practice tells you that if you enter into a patient’s room, the first thing to do is to check the vital sign, and once the result is good, the patient is okay. However, the standard is not physically present with you to the see the look of the patient; so if the look of the patient says different thing from the vital sign, the application of your discretion is called for at such a time.
Further readings: Matt. 10:16; Eph. 5:17; Col. 4:5
