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I agree with the assay, and I have personal experiences regarding workgroups (mostly hackathons) that match precisely the (1) small group requirement -7 to 10 p

I agree with the assay, and I have personal experiences regarding workgroups (mostly hackathons) that match precisely the (1) small group requirement -7 to 10 people-; (2) the avoidance of any tree structure: horizontal and unguided development; and (3) the avoidance of mediocre people. Yet I have a concern nagging my mind about the reduction of freedom in hierachies. Ender's Game book seem to argue the opposite: that giving general orders to a group while leaving the implementation details to each member is the best of both worlds. [Remember the school master Graff describing to Ender the hierarchical army he had built with his toon leaders: moving in synchrony, yet each piece showing initiative and creativity -as opposed to the single-minded, single-track insector army lead by a single queen.]

nostrademons 19y ago
There was a book I read recently...I can't remember the title, but it was one of those generic "How to manage for innovation and creativity" books, by a famous author. Anyway, one of the examples used was that most-hierarchical-of-hierarchies, the U.S. Army. It talked about how in Vietnam, the U.S. got its butt kicked because basically "no plan survives contact with the enemy." The army would have these detailed marching orders, but then Vietcong would come out of nowhere and blow the plans to shambles. The army's solution was to include a "Commander's Intention" section at the top of every order, which was a one-sentence description of the overall objective that the military hoped to achieve. At high levels, it would be very general, like "Establish air superiority over the region between the XYZ and ABC parallels". At low levels, it might be very specific, like "Capture the hill overlooking the southernmost runway at XY Airbase, to allow the 3rd mechanized division to enter the base without fear of artillery attack." The crucial point was that if conditions on the battlefield ever made it impossible to carry out their orders as written, officers were authorized to use whatever creativity and judgment necessary to achieve the Commander's Intention, including giving new orders to their own subordinates. So you had plans, but each subunit knew where they stood in relationship to the whole and could adapt on the fly to take into account changing battlefield realities. Anyone here in the military that could confirm or deny this? Anyone know what book it's from?

nostrademons 19y ago

There was a book I read recently...I can't remember the title, but it was one of those generic "How to manage for innovation and creativity" books, by a famous author. Anyway, one of the examples used was that most-hierarchical-of-hierarchies, the U.S. Army. It talked about how in Vietnam, the U.S. got its butt kicked because basically "no plan survives contact with the enemy." The army would have these detailed marching orders, but then Vietcong would come out of nowhere and blow the plans to shambles. The army's solution was to include a "Commander's Intention" section at the top of every order, which was a one-sentence description of the overall objective that the military hoped to achieve. At high levels, it would be very general, like "Establish air superiority over the region between the XYZ and ABC parallels". At low levels, it might be very specific, like "Capture the hill overlooking the southernmost runway at XY Airbase, to allow the 3rd mechanized division to enter the base without fear of artillery attack." The crucial point was that if conditions on the battlefield ever made it impossible to carry out their orders as written, officers were authorized to use whatever creativity and judgment necessary to achieve the Commander's Intention, including giving new orders to their own subordinates. So you had plans, but each subunit knew where they stood in relationship to the whole and could adapt on the fly to take into account changing battlefield realities. Anyone here in the military that could confirm or deny this? Anyone know what book it's from?