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I think that what this really misses is that companies aren't necessarily monolithic entities. You need different groups of people doing different things. "Comm
by saraid216 12y ago
I think that what this really misses is that companies aren't necessarily monolithic entities. You need different groups of people doing different things. "Commandos" are useful as skunkworks groups, trying out completely out-of-band ideas to see what sticks. "Infantry" to take the things that do stick and develop them into something stable. "Police" to receive the hand-off and maintain oversight.
In other words, if you swap out "company" for "product", then you can use this as a lifecycle without ever actually losing the employee.
- TheOtherHobbes 12y agoI think it really misses that business isn't actually war. If you have a culture where everyone thinks they're either commandos, infantry, or police, it's possible you're going to have some customer relationship issues. Who's the enemy in this model? If people don't fit, do they become traitors? Language and metaphor matter, and IMO this is a dangerous and rather dumb metaphor. I can understand why it's going to be popular with certain kinds of business people, especially the kind who like simple stories that make them feel more important than they really are. But over time I think it's as likely to cause as many problems as it solves.
- saraid216 12y agoIn my first write of that post, I automatically substituted "trailblazers" for "commandos". Then I realized I didn't want to figure out another metaphor. Some sibling comment mentioned "settlers" as a metaphor, which I can get behind.
- andrewflnr 12y agoThe enemies are entropy and your competitors. And if you fail to overcome them, you will cease to exist. The pervasive war metaphors didn't come about for no reason.